Home Is Where My Baby Is
by DemonClowSorceress
Summary: In a small Missouri town, Sam and Dean investigate the strange deaths of Jane Does. But when a surprise shows up in their hotel room, solving this case becomes more than just another job when what's at stake is too much to lose. Human!Impala. COMPLETE!
1. Dude, Where's My Baby?

**Home Is Where My Baby Is**

**By: DemonClowSorceress**

**Blanket disclaimer: I don't _Supernatural _or any of the hot, sexy, badass men who traipse across that screen. I'm merely playing with them for a time. Valence is a town I've created for this story.**

**First time fandom writer_,_ but long time lover of the series. Enjoy!**

* * *

Dean Winchester leaned against the Impala's driver side door and perused the newspaper as he waited for Sam to emerge from the gas station mart. His stomach had been demanding food for almost half an hour, but he'd managed to ignore it due to sheer boredom.

It had been some time since their last case, almost three months, and all the demons had surprisingly let the brothers be for just as long. By now he was willing to take on anything, even a Woman in White, single-handedly. Anything to break the mind-numbing boredom.

_C'mon, something supernatural HAS to be happening somewhere. _He turned a page and sighed. _Demons aren't just taking a vacation while we figure out how to seal the gates of Hell. There has to be some - Ah-HA!_

A small headline buried in the local news caught his eye. SUSPICIOUS JANE DOE DEATHS DISTURB VALENCE.

Intrigued, Dean read through the short article. A series of strange deaths in a small Missouri town, all female, and all Jane Does. Cause of death the same for them all - catastrophic organ failure for no apparent reason. It didn't read like typical demonic activity, but then again, the evil bastards had been known for changing their game up. His hunter's sense was beating against his skull like a jackhammer. This was definitely something worth investigating.

"Anything good?" came Sam's query as he returned from the store with lunch.

"Bunch of Jane Does have been popping up dead in Missouri from organ failure without cause. Found in garages, the middle of roads, parking lots. Nine in total over the last four months. Cops don't know what to make of it."

Handing over a sandwich, Sam munched on his own wrap. "So what're you thinking? Possession gone wrong?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"So what? Ritual? Vengeful spirits?"

Dean shook his head. "It just feels wrong to me. We should check it out."

"Valence isn't too far out of our way," Sam admitted. "Let's go."

Dean folded up the newspaper, got inside the Impala, and tossed the paper in the backseat. "Alright Baby," he said, patting the dash fondly. "Ready for another adventure?"

* * *

Valence, Missouri was a normal suburban town by any standard. Big enough for chain stores but not large enough to be classified as a city, nothing really struck the Winchester brothers as "off" as they cruised down Main Street and turned into the police station parking lot. Fixing their suits, they checked IDs and effortlessly slipped into FBI character as they entered the building.

Getting into the morgue wasn't very difficult; the M.E. was a pretty woman who was clearly smitten with Dean at first flirt. They were able to get access to all the autopsy files and the bodies in storage. Nothing really stood out about the women at first glance except that all of them had gray eyes, their feet were all cut up as if they'd been running barefoot across a field of glass shards, and -

"Apparently all the dead girls have tattoos," Dean remarked as he flipped through files.

"Of what?"

"Random things, but they've all got a tramp stamp."

Sam threw him a doubtful look. But habit meant he still had to ask, "Anything in Latin or Enochian? Locks? Sigils? Runes? Odd-looking symbols?"

"Nope."

Without another clue to go on, the brothers left the morgue. "I don't get it," Sam said. "If this was demon possession, why just girls? And why the hell does nobody have any record of their lives? No missing persons, fingerprints or DNA on file in any database. It's like they never existed before they dropped dead in Valence."

"Maybe it's some kind of cult," Dean guessed.

"Then there would have been matching tattoos on the girls. Something identical to identify them to other members."

"Sorority girls hazing gone wrong." Sam gave him a bitch look. "What? They were hot enough."

"They're dead."

"I said _were_."

When they returned to the parking lot, Dean couldn't immediately see his beloved car. His jaw started working when a closer look around the lot yielded no sign of the Impala. "Sam, where's my car? Where's Baby?"

"I dunno." Sam looked around, but like his brother, he couldn't see the Winchesters' classic car. "We parked it right here."

"Someone stole Baby? Again?!"

The strangled yelp made Sam quickly look over to see Dean double over and start to hyperventilate. "Dean, calm down, calm down," said the younger Winchester in a soothing voice, grabbing his brother's elbow glancing around to make sure nobody saw his panic attack. "Deep breaths, c'mon man."

"Baby - someone - gonna kill - whoever - "

"Just breathe, dude. We'll find her."

After several seconds of sputtering, Dean managed to regain some control of himself. But he was still shaking and spitting acid as they walked back to their motel. "Swear to God, if whatever we're hunting has anything to do with Baby missing, I'll gank this bastard five ways from Sunday!" he swore.

"Okay Dean, just chill out and keep breathing."

Sam knew his words went in one ear and out the other. Once his brother got this worked up, only a salt-and-burn or a tussle could calm him down. Sam was worried about the Impala's sudden disappearance too - hell, it was their armory on wheels and the only home he's had really ever known - but that car really was Dean's. In a weird way, it was like she was his girlfriend - he doted on her, kept her running smooth and looking good, and he was always surly and uncomfortable when forced to drive another car, as if he felt guilty about cheating on her. It was the only thing the eldest Winchester could ever hold on to for any amount of time, and he treasured her more than anything on Earth, above or below it.

When they returned to their room, the first thing they noticed was that the door was slightly ajar. Immediately drawing their weapons, Dean and Sam shared a look as Sam reached for the doorknob. With silent nods they burst inside and trained their guns on the figure curled up on Dean's bed. It appeared to be wearing Dean's leather jacket, showcasing a pair of long, shapely, definitively _female_ legs.

"The hell?" Dean squeaked. He looked over at Sam and said, "The hell's a girl doing on my bed?"

The younger man blinked. "You mean you don't know her?"

"I don't know anyone in this one-horse town!"

"So why's she wearing your jacket and lying on your bed?"

"I don't friggin' know!"

"Dean! Sammy!" A female's throaty alto drew both brothers' attention back to their unexpected guest as she sat up on Dean's bed. "Oh thank God, you're back!"

They couldn't help staring at this strange girl who spoke with such familiarity. While it wasn't odd for them to encounter weird people who knew their names, usually those "people" were demons or some other supernatural creature trying to gank the brothers before they were ganked themselves. This girl wasn't showing signs of power or magic, or even holding a weapon. In fact, to Sam, she appeared to be...normal.

And she called him Sammy. Nobody but Dean called him Sammy.

Just a couple inches shorter than Dean, she looked to be in her mid- to late twenties. Long charcoal hair hung in waves around an oval face that was, in Sam's opinion, classically beautiful. Her eyes were a peculiar shade of gray, almost silver, and her dark lips formed a perfect O as she stared at the gun-toting Winchesters, not in fear, but in relief. "I've been waiting for hours. What kept you?" she exclaimed, scrambling to her feet. "I got worried that something had happened to y - "

Dean regained his voice first. "Who the hell are you to break in here and wear my jacket like some sort of weirdo Goldilocks?"

Her face flushed. "Hey, it's not my fault," she growled, her throaty voice dropping an octave in anger. "This was the biggest thing you owned that could cover my chassis."

"Who the hell are you?"

She blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

"It's me." Her eyes glanced from him, to Sam, and then back. "I'm your Impala. I'm Baby."

* * *

**And...commercial break!**

**Review please! **

**I'm real nervous about this first attempt, so I hope it does the fandom justice. Stay tuned!**


	2. Two Brothers and Their Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"I'm your Impala. I'm Baby."_

* * *

Unsure if he'd misheard her words, Sam choked out, "You're what now?"

"Baby. That's what Dean calls me, anyway."

Needless to say, her announcement shocked the Winchesters speechless. They exchanged a wide-eyed stare of _The hell did she just say? _before staring at the girl again.

"That's impossible." Even as he said it Sam knew that was dumb to say. After all the things they'd seen, slayed and stopped, impossible was rarely used in their line of work anymore. "How?"

"Search me." The girl gestured helplessly to her jacket-clad body. "I woke up in the parking lot and panicked - "

"Parking lot?"

"Yeah, the police station parking lot. I - "

"Alright, enough of this crap!" Dean took a step closer and aimed his ivory-gripped Colt straight at her heart. "Stop bullshitting with us and tell me who the hell you are!"

She put her hands on her hips, and Sam was shocked to hear a low rumbling sound that was strangely similar to a revving engine. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I am your _car,_ you jackass!"

"Bull!"

Her eyes seemed to flicker, as if lights were flashing behind them. "I am, or rather was, a 1967 Chevrolet Impala. I rolled off the assembly line on April 24, 1967. I ended up at Rainbow Motors in Lawrence, Kansas in 1973, when you, Dean, talked me up to John." She tugged at the cuffs of Dean's jacket. "I've got a 327 and four-barrel carb, every type of weapon and monster deterrent known to hunters in my trunk, not to mention some Legos that Dean crammed down my vents." One fist pressed just below her neck as she cleared her throat with a rattling cough. "Still have trouble breathing through those sometimes."

Dean blinked in surprise when she mentioned the Legos, but shook his head. "You could've gotten all that from reading Chuck's book."

She pursed her lips. "Fine. Check it." She grasped at the first button of Dean's jacket and started to undo it. Immediately the boys blustered and hemmed and hawed as they quickly averted their eyes. "Really? You're gonna be a prude after the number of women you've overhauled in my backseat?"

"Cover up!" Dean ordered, his cheeks bright red.

Rolling her eyes, the girl held the jacket up to cover her front. "Fine. You can look now." When they did, she tapped the side of her left thigh to draw attention to the army man tattooed there. "The plastic toy that Sammy jammed in my backseat ashtray." She turned to indicate two rough sets of scars on her hip. "Recognize these initials? You should, because you two kiddies carved them on my door." She gave Dean a triumphant grin. "So? Do I pass?"

Crossing his arms, Dean cocked his head and softly called out, "Yo Cas! Get down here. We've got a situation." The familiar flapping sound heralded the Seraph's arrival behind the brothers. "She says she's Baby. Do your angel-sense thing, read her mind."

From the searching puzzlement on his face, it was clear that Castiel thought that Dean was messing with him. He looked at the girl, and his eyes widened slightly. She met his blue gaze squarely, never backing down or showing discomfort as their staring match ensued for over a minute.

Finally, Castiel looked back at Dean. "She's telling the truth. She is the Impala transformed."

Even with the angel's confirmation, Dean regarded her carefully. "But how?"

"I do not recognize the spell. It is powerful, nonetheless."

"Can you break it?" Sam's eyes widened in wonder, still trying to equate their classic car with this petite woman.

Castiel shook his head. "Not without more information. What do you remember about the transformation?" he asked, directing the question to Baby.

She shrugged. "Nothing. I just woke up lying on the asphalt, bare-ass naked and wearing my plates on my skin."

"Your plates?"

Turning her bare back fully to the brothers, she pointed to the tattoo at the curve of her waist - CNK 80Q3. "Honestly, I miss my KAZ 2Y5 plates, but we had to hide from the Feds so I get it."

"Wait a sec." Dean's head tilted to the side, his eyebrows furrowing together. "Tramp stamp...random tats...That's it!" he crowed. Sam, Castiel, and Baby gave him perplexed looks. "Each of the girls had gray eyes and a tramp stamp of random letters and numbers, the same as she does," he explained, pointing to the girl. "What if they're license plate numbers?"

Sam frowned. "The dead girls are cars?"

"Yeah! And what turned them human is probably what turned Baby human!"

"That would explain why there's no info on the girls. Let me check some other records really quick..." Already in research geek mode, Sam moved to the small table in the motel room and pulled out his Macbook. Castiel chose that moment to disappear to who-knew-where, leaving Dean to stare at his rather pretty, very human, prized Impala.

She shifted on her feet. "Quite staring, you're freaking me out."

"I just found my car in my motel room wearing my leather jacket, and you're freaked out?"

"Hey, you're used to freaky stuff. I'm not used to being human. It's weird."

"Don't start with me, Baby." Wetting his lips nervously, he swallowed before awkwardly saying, "So, you should probably change."

Disbelief spread over Baby's face. "Into what? Not like anything you've got can fit me."

"Right. You need clothes and...and underwear..." Dean swallowed again, suddenly feeling very out of his element. Which was weird, since he'd seen his fair share of underwear and naked girls. But this was his Baby, and she was looking up at him with those silver-chrome eyes, and Dean was suddenly, uncomfortably aware that she wasn't any other girl...

Gritting his teeth, he walked over to Sam and tapped his shoulder. "Sam!"

"What?"

"Take Baby shopping."

Sam never looked up from his computer. "You do it. She's your car."

"Dude, I'll do the research if you'll please, _please_ just take Baby. You're better with that girly shopping crap."

About to snap off a retort, Sam noticed just how red Dean's face was as he spoke. _Since when does Mr. Smooth Operator balk at shopping for ... oh, wait. _He couldn't help the smirk that curled one side of his mouth upwards. "Fine. C'mon Baby. Let's get you some clothes of your own."

* * *

"Sammy? Why was Dean's face was so red when he said I needed clothes?" she asked from behind the dressing room curtain. "He's seen a female's bare chassis before."

Sitting in the "husband's chair" Sam chortled. "Probably because he couldn't handle buying you underwear."

"Why?"

"You're his car. He's not supposed to sexually fantasize about you." Sam chuckled again. "He obsesses over you enough as it is."

"I'm glad for that. Reason why I look so good."

"How do you mean?"

Baby poked her tousled head out. "I'm over forty-five years old, Sammy. I don't look my age, right? That's because Dean takes such good care of me, and because you've both loved me so much."

Sam smiled at her fondly. "Of course we love you, Baby." He noticed the odd looks he got from other people and lowered his voice. "Hey, maybe we shouldn't call you Baby in front of people."

"Why not?" she asked, puzzled. "That's my name."

"It's a term of endearment and makes people draw the wrong conclusions. You need another name, an alias."

"Like what?"

She retreated behind the curtain again while he racked his brain for a few minutes. "How about...Paula? Sounds shorter for Impala, so you'll know we mean you."

"Paula?" She was silent for a time, but when she spoke again, she sounded pleased with his choice. "Okay." She poked her head out again and smiled. "Ready?"

"Everything fit well?

"Yup."

"Let's see."

Baby strolled out and planted one hand on her hip, striking a pose. Sam's choice of all black had been a good one, a contrast to make her chrome eyes glitter. Her new leather jacket fitted snugly over her tanktop that bore the words **Baby Girl** in silver script. Black skinny jeans sheathed her legs, and a pair of silver-buckled boots completed the look.

"Very nice," Sam said, getting up to stretch his legs. "You look good."

"But it feels like there's something missing..." She snapped her fingers. "That's it! The thing!"

"What thing?"

"It's in my glovebox. Hang on." And before Sam could process her words, Baby had stuck a hand down her bra. She rooted around for a moment before extracting a small object. "Ah-HA! Found it!"

Embarrassment melted into shock when Sam recognized the item swinging from her fingertips. "Where did you get that?"

"You hid it in the glovebox years ago. It's Dean's isn't it?" Baby hung the cord around her neck and examined the little brass amulet. "Maybe he'll want it back."

Recalling the way his brother had chucked it into the motel trashcan, he said, "I doubt it."

"Well, I feel much better now. Must be the leather," Baby replied, rubbing the sleeves of her jacket with a smile. "Thanks Sammy. I really appreciate this."

"Alright. We'll grab a few extra shirts and things for you, then we'll head back."

"Sammy." She looked up at him with that smile of hers. "I mean it. You both have always taken care of me, and every time Dean...goes away, you look after me. And when you kept me after I was nearly destroyed by that truck..." Without warning she hugged Sam tightly. "Thank you so much," she whispered. "Thank you for never letting me go."

Sam was startled by the action, but he embraced her anyway. Her hair smelled like the Impala's interior, a mix of well-worn leather, fresh air, and age. He smiled at the familiar scent and stepped back, his hands resting on her shoulders. "You're the only home we've really ever known," he said. "This can't even begin to pay back how much we owe you."

His cell phone went off as he was paying for Baby's clothes and boots. Digging it out of his pocket, he spoke to Dean. They were exiting the store when he hung up, his expression sober. Baby noticed and asked, "What's up?"

"That was Dean. The dead girls' tramp stamps match the license plates of high-end cars that were sold to a showroom here in Valence. A Lamborghini, three Aston Martins, two Vipers, and two Porsches."

"Expensive cars." Baby carefully searched his face. "There's something else. What is it?"

"Another girl was just found in the police parking lot. Dean's gonna meet us there. Ready?"

"Ready." Her eyes sparkled as she tucked Dean's amulet under her shirt. "You think he'll be happy to see my new paint job?" she asked with a nervous smile.

"Yeah," Sam smiled, amused at her sudden shyness. "I think he's gonna love seeing you."

* * *

**Castiel appears, return of the amulet, and another body!**

**Stay tuned, and drop a review on the way out!**


	3. Take Your Baby To Work Day

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"I think he's gonna love seeing you."_

* * *

The parking lot was jammed with police cruisers and uniforms milling around. Walking into a heavy law enforcement presence always gave Sam an uneasy feeling, but he managed to hide it well. A lifetime of lying to civilians and pretending to be every government agent under the sun gave him a brisk aloofness that helped sell the cover.

Baby, however, kept fidgeting with her jacket cuffs and looking around nervously. One hand would reach up to rake through her dark hair, almost like she was making sure it was still there. When she caught Sam looking back at her, she gave a trembling smile. "Still getting used to the human experience," she said. "Sorry."

"Just...stop fidgeting, you look suspicious." Sam flashed his badge at the rookie cop standing guard on the perimeter. "Special Agent Garfield, FBI. This is my consultant, Paula..." He stumbled before spitting out the first surname he could think of that wasn't Winchester. "Campbell. My partner is already here, I assume?"

"Y-Yes sir," the rookie stammered, head nodding like a bobblehead. His eyes were staring at Baby so hard they were almost bulging from their sockets as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down his throat. "He's talking to the chief."

"Where's the body?" The kid pointed at the white tarp. "Okay, thanks."

Baby giggled as they ducked beneath the police tape. "His headlights looked ready to pop out."

"He probably wasn't expecting an FBI consultant to look like you."

"What's a consultant?"

"Tell you later." Kneeling beside the tarp, Sam lifted a corner to show the dead twenty-something girl lying on her stomach. She was barefoot, her feet cut up the same as the other dead girls. Her short blonde hair was cut in a bob and she was wearing a tight gold dress with almost no back. Tattooed on the exposed skin of her waist was another set of letters and numbers. Another transformed car.

He glanced up at Baby, and noticed the look of confusion on her face. "I don't understand," she whispered. "Her engine isn't just damaged, it's been worn down from the inside out. Like she's been ridden past her breaking point and was never given repairs."

Sam blinked. "You can tell her damage just by looking at her?"

"Can't you?"

"No." He looked around to find his brother and noticed a small group of women tittering to each other, wide-eyed and clearly scared. Careful not to rouse suspicion, Sam stood up and led Baby over to where Dean was speaking with the Valence police chief.

"Another Jane Doe," they heard the chief reporting. "No purse, ID, nothing. M.E's first guess is death from organ failure, same as the other girls." He shook his head as he looked at the body. "My girl's about her age, in college. Poor thing."

"Poor thing," Dean echoed. He let his eyes drift unconsciously to note Sam's approach, then found Baby following him like a small leather-clad shadow. "Excuse me. I need to talk to my partner."

Sam waited until the captain moved away before speaking. "She's another transformed car. Got the tattoo and everything." When Dean didn't reply, he said, "Hey, you okay in there?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine." With a shock Dean realized he was staring at the girl. "You, uh, look good Baby," he said with a smile.

"Paula."

"What?"

"Sammy said that calling me Baby in front of others would be strange, so that's my new name. Paula Campbell." She smiled brightly. "I'm your consultant."

The use of their mother's maiden name made Dean shoot his brother a _Seriously? _look. Shooting back a smirk of his own, Sam tilted his head to indicate the suspicious trio of women. "Later. Those three women across the street."

Dean pegged them in seconds. "Witch coven?"

"Can't tell for certain. There were no hex bags recovered from the other bodies. But they definitely seem to know something about this dead girl."

Dean groaned. "I hate witches."

"I know dude, but we still need info."

"Say no more." The elder Winchester fixed his suit jacket with a grin. "I'll be right back."

"Hold up there, muscle car," Baby said, placing a hand on Dean's chest to keep him from advancing. Something in her eyes seemed to flicker as she looked at the women. "Let me do these interviews."

"Why?"

"Trust me Dean, I know what I'm doing." Before he could question her further, Baby turned on one heel and headed towards the women. Her swaying hips caught the eye of every male cop she passed, and lust showed plainly on their faces. The tight-fitting clothes showed every curve of her lithe body, displaying a figure that was just as beautiful as the Impala had been. Dean had to clench his fists and grind his teeth to keep from telling them to keep their leering eyes off his Baby.

Sam couldn't help the amused smirk from forming on his lips. "Jealous much?"

"Shut your mouth."

* * *

She was still getting used to the difficulties of being human, but Baby could feel her confidence growing with every person she saw. If the deer-in-headlights looks from the males were any indication, she was just as fine-looking a human as she was a car. And as with humans, it was easier to feel confident when you look as good as Baby did.

Fixing her leather jacket, Baby sauntered over to the trio of women with a winning smile. No insult to her boys, but Sammy and Dean weren't always the most tactful of people. Gathering vital information would definitely show them just how useful she was to this hunt.

Besides, she knew how to speak with these particular women.

"Hello ladies," she said to them. To the blonde she added, "Nice paint job."

The women smiled right back at Baby as the blonde said, "Why thank you! It's new." Her eyes looked Baby up and down. "You don't look familiar. Are you new in town?"

"Yeah. I'm called Baby." She held out her hand to each woman in turn. "Wondering if any of you know the poor girl there."

"My name's Madeline. This is Rose," said the blonde as she indicated the redhead beside her. Pointing at the body she sadly added, "That's Sheila. A good girl."

"And you know this..."

"The same way you do." She gestured to her companions. "Same as we all do."

Baby nodded. As she'd thought, more transformed cars. "Make and model?"

"A '73 Fastback Mustang. Old Man Hendrix has had her in his garage since his wife died. Kept her in perfect condition."

"Address?" She quickly wrote down the information as Madeline relayed it. "Any idea what's going on what's giving us a full overhaul and making us human?"

The redhead - Rose - spoke up. "Not sure really, but it's been this way for about three or four months. About twenty of us are human now."

"Some cars around town have been getting changed too. Not as many, though." Madeline gestured to herself. "Lucky for me, a '59 Eldorado made that cut."

Baby nodded. "Lucky me too. I'm a '67 Impala."

"A '67?" Rose repeated in surprise. "I'm an '83 Testarossa and you look younger than me. Your master must take very good care of you."

"Yes, he does." Baby's smile was proud and polite. "So nobody knows who's changing us?"

The third woman, much younger than her companions and wearing green, spoke up. "No. Whoever it is, he's really particular about which ones he changes. Most are Porsches, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Mustangs, Fiats. Out-of-towners. All out of Christopher's place."

"Christopher?"

"He owns a showroom in town. It opened about four months ago."

"Any ideas how Sheila managed to get changed?"

The three women shook their heads. "But I know it was recently," Madeline offered. "I saw her around town two days ago. First time she's been out and about in thirty years."

"Thanks," Baby said. "Maybe I'll stop over and see what I can see."

The woman in green caught Baby's wrist as she made to leave. "Are you going after the person who changed us?" she asked. "Will you force him to change us back?"

"That's the idea," admitted the Impala. "If bodies keep dropping, the humans will get scared. And who's to say we won't be next?"

"But it's only been the newer models. None of us older ones are dying."

Baby narrowed her chrome eyes. "Listen..."

"Tanya."

"Tanya, you're the youngest here as a ninety-seven, so I'll give you some free advice." She thumbed over her shoulder at Sheila's body. "A '73 kept in perfect condition just dropped dead of a worn-out engine block. What makes you think any of us are really safe?"

* * *

**Because Baby is a Winchester as well, so she's gotta be useful in this case.**

**Review please! I'd love to hear what you think!**


	4. Looking Green Around The Grill, Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"What makes you think any of us are really safe?"_

* * *

When Baby rejoined the Winchesters, Sam had to ask. "They're cars?"

"A fifty-nine named Madeline, an eighty-three named Rose, and a ninety-seven named Tanya," she said, pointing to each in turn. "Local cars like those three have been getting turned along with the out-of-towners. Been going on for about four months, but unlike the Jane Does, the locals have stayed alive this whole time. Don't know why."

"How did you know they were cars?"

"It's just something I know." Baby's smile was something that he would have expected Dean to flash when the elder Winchester had shown hidden intelligence. "The dead girl is Sheila, a local '73 Mustang that hasn't seen the light of day for thirty years." She crossed her arms suddenly, puzzlement making her forehead crease as she frowned. "But something doesn't make sense. They said Sheila was in perfect condition, yet she's got a worn-out engine block after two days of being human."

"You can tell her damage just by looking?" Dean asked. She nodded. "Then let's get you down to the morgue to see if the other car-girls died the same way."

Leaving the crime scene to be processed, the Winchesters and Baby headed for the medical examiner's office. Dean pasted on his best winning smile as they entered, not noticing how Baby seemed to bristle up.

"Agent Brown, Agent Garfield. Always a pleasure," the M.E. said in a cheery voice. Her eyes instantly zeroed in on Dean as her smile grew flirty. "What can I do for you?"

"Hey Marla. Wondering if you had a moment before the new Jane Doe comes down. This is our consultant - "

"Paula Campbell," Baby supplied, her tone arctic.

Dean blinked, startled at her sudden show of hostility. " - and she needs a look at the other Jane Does."

"Of course. Follow me."

As they passed him, Sam heard a strange noise coming from beside him. He turned to see Baby staring daggers at the M.E.'s back, her fists clenched at her side and her pearly white teeth bared in a snarl. The sound was her sharply exhaling through her gritted teeth - a sound, Sam was surprised to hear, sounded an awful lot like the Impala when someone revved her engine. "Baby? You okay?" he mumbled.

"Fine," she gritted out. As if making a command decision, Baby tore off her leather jacket and slung it over her shoulder. "Let's go, Sammy," she said, stalking down after the others.

For the next half an hour, the transformed Impala made sure she was always by Dean's side. Her tanktop bared her unmarred tanned skin in full view of Dean's eyes. When she spoke, she spoke directly to Dean. When Marla made to hand over her files to Dean, Baby quickly snatched them up. The Impala was clearly marking her territory, which amused Sam a little too much, but her frosty change in attitude clearly puzzled his brother to distraction.

Dean finally turned to Baby when the M.E. left to supervise Sheila's move from the crime scene to the slab. "Mind telling me what that was all about?"

"What was what about?"

"You know what. You were clinging to me like duct tape and giving Marla the Arctic shoulder."

Baby kept staring at the corpse in front of her. "No idea what you're talking about."

Recognizing the start of an argument when he heard one, Sam immediately intervened. "Baby, what can you tell us about the other girls?" he asked, bringing the focus back on their case.

"They all have similar damage." Crossing her arms, Baby tore her eyes from the dead girl. "Their engines have been run into piles of scrap. Broken engine belts, destroyed transmissions, cracked cylinder heads. They were pushed over their limits and fell apart from the inside."

"What could cause that?"

"Usually years of serious wear and tear without proper maintainance."

"So somebody's literally running these girls to the ground." A true mechanic's son, Dean was sickened by the thought. "Once they're broken, they're left on the streets like broken heaps of trash."

"We should talk to that Hendrix guy," Sam said. "She's the first local car to wind up dead. Maybe he knows something about how Mustang Sally turned into a person."

"Do it yourself," Baby said, her tone suddenly growing weak and tired.

Dean caught the change in voice and looked down at her. "You okay?"

"Feels like I'm running on fumes. I'm heading back to the motel." She shot a dark glare at Dean. "Have fun flirting with _Marla_," she spat out.

_A car acting like a jealous girlfriend_, Sam thought in suprise as he watched Baby leave as Sheila's body was brought in. _Now I've seen everything_.

* * *

When Castiel returned to the motel room, he found Baby stretched out on Dean's bed like a cat, flipping through John's journal. Dean's jacket was draped over her like a large blanket, and long locks of black hair fanned over the comforter like a dark halo. The wrappers of several burgers were scattered on the nightstand, holding a small pile of lettuce and tomatoes that had obviously come from said burgers. "I see you share Dean's choice of nourishment."

She looked over when she heard him speak. "Hey Cas. Yeah, I like the greasiness. The taste reminds me of fresh oil, and it keeps my insides running smoothly."

"You are reading John Winchester's journal."

"Thought that I should look through it," she said. "John always wrote in it. I may have driven him from hunt to hunt, but I never knew much about the life my boys chose to live."

"May I join you?"

"Sure."

"I have a query," said Castiel, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You have been with them since the beginning. You have watched them live and grow and survive it all. Now you are able to help them as another hunter, not just a manner of transportation."

Baby closed the journal and set it aside. "What are you asking?"

"Are you conflicted about this case?" he asked. "About stopping the person responsible and giving up the way you are?"

She shook her head. "No, not really."

"Why?" Castiel cocked his head curiously at her. "You are now human. You can be with them this way. Be with Dean this way," he added. He knew how much the older Winchester doted on and adored his car.

"I've always been with him. With both of them," Baby stated. "I've carried them across the country more times than I care to admit. I've cradled them as they slept. I've seen all they've seen and quite a bit more. All as a car." She looked down at the hand holding her place in the journal, and slowly flexed the digits. "This...is a nice change, but it is unnatural. I wish to be myself again - to be the Impala they know and love again."

Her selfless statement made Castiel's eyes narrow in puzzlement. "But you are able to speak and be with Dean. Doesn't this please you?"

"I don't understand your question."

"You don't wish to have intercourse with him?" He spoke as if this was an obvious end to his chain of thought.

Imagine his mild surprise when Baby's face flushed redder than a sunburned albino. "N-N-No! I-I mean, it's not that I haven't...I mean I didn't...it's not like..." She slapped the angel's shoulder roughly, and Castiel was painfully reminded that there was an Impala's strength hidden within her petite human form. "Shut up!"

The angel didn't understand her embarrassment. "You are human. In terms of human beauty, you are quite lovely, although I myself cannot find any attraction to you - "

"Gee, you really know how to compliment a girl, huh Cas?" she said dryly.

"But you _are_ human," he reiterated. "As is Dean. He loves you more than anything I've ever seen, so I assume you do as well."

"I do, but I can't - we can't - " She heaved a sigh and said, "No, Cas. It just wouldn't work."

"But you do love him."

The girl slowly nodded. "Yeah. But I'd rather have everything as it was. It was...simpler for me."

Castiel cocked his head to the side. "Then I do not understand."

"Being a car is simple." A smile began to form on her lips as Baby's eyelids lowered to half-mast. "When you feel someone searching for that pain in your transmission or undercarriage, you feel the relief that he cares enough to fix you. When someone keeps you through an accident that should condemn you to the scrapyard, you know you're loved. You feel the road beneath your tires, the wind along your body, the people in your seats, and someone's hands on your wheel, and you're content. It's pure bliss, really."

"But being human..." She shook her head. "It's more complicated. You see your master's eye wandering at someone prettier and it's like your oil and coolant are mixing. It hurts too, like your engine belt's about to snap. My headlights fog and sting like they're about to burn out - What?" she snapped when Castiel leaned closer to stare intently at her face. "What is it?"

"This shouldn't be possible," he murmured. "I've heard of instances, but only after centuries - "

Getting angry at his cryptic musings, Baby crossed her arms. "Mind sharing with the class?" But when she blinked, the trenchcoat-wearing angel was gone. "Cas? CAS? Dammit Cas, what the hell!" she yelled.

"Cas was here?" Dean's voice made Baby turn to see the brothers entering the room. He was carrying a bag of burgers in hand and a six-pack of beer under one arm, his green eyes glancing around the room as if for a sign that Castiel would be returning.

"Here and gone."

"Same as always," Sam grumbled as he pulled off his jacket and tie and tossed them on his bed. "We talked to Jack Hendrix, the guy who owned Sheila. He said that after he had his stroke, he had a mechanic come around every few months to make sure she stayed in working order."

Baby tried to focus on Sam's words, but her treacherous eyes kept trying to look at Dean. Now that Castiel had said those things, she couldn't help thinking about them. And it wasn't like her Dean was all that bad to look at. Judging by the way Marla the M.E. couldn't keep her eyes off him, he was a fine-looking man.

_Very fine indeed... _Clearing her throat with a rattle, she said unsteadily, "You think the mechanic's involved?"

"Maybe. First we gotta find the guy," Sam said. "If he is involved, then we need to figure out how he's doing it."

"Before he kills more cars," Dean added.

"And before he gets me," Baby finished, looking from brother to brother.

Dean quickly strode over to place a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'm not going to let that happen to you," he promised.

_Damn _if his words didn't make her insides purr like a well-tuned engine, but Baby knew better than to say so. Her Dean never was good with what he called "chick-flick moments" and she wasn't about to make him feel awkward. So instead, she snatched his beer from his fingertips and said, "Mind if I have a sip?"

She didn't wait for an answer before taking a long draft from the bottle. "Ah. Good stuff," she sighed as the alcohol settled in her belly with sudden warmth. "So, how do we go about finding the elusive mechanic?"

* * *

**Aww, jealous Baby! Poor Dean's clueless. And awkward Cas with his awkward questions...**

**Review please! I love reading them, they make me happy and keep the plot bunnies well-fed!**


	5. Rock-A-Bye Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"So, how do we go about finding the elusive mechanic?"_

* * *

Dean was a little surprised the way Baby spoke, as though she thought she was still on this case. True, she'd provided valuable information that would have been difficult to get otherwise, but Sheila's death had cemented his resolve to keep his beloved Impala as far from harm as possible. A classic car had died after two days of being human, and Baby was coming up to the twelve-hour mark. He could take no chances.

_"We,"_ he stressed, pointing at himself and Sam, "are going to do some more digging. _You _are gonna sit here like a good girl. And another thing, missy. If you do go someplace, you go nowhere alone. Not up for debate," he added when she looked ready to argue. "You stay with either me or Sam at all times."

Her dark lips puckered to the side in an irritated scowl. "Hold up, hot rod. Nobody puts me in a corner, not even you. And you need me on this one." She lifted Dean's beer to take another pull.

"That's my beer!" he snapped, snatching it back before the bottle touched her lips again. He drank what was left, ignoring the teenage part of his brain that mumbled something about an indirect kiss... "You're staying out of it and that's final."

Baby's eyes seemed to glow as she glared at him. "I can help you both, and you know it."

"Not happening."

"That's not fair! I'm a part of this family too!"

A sharp rap drew both their attentions back to Sam. "Dean, she's right. Baby is a part of this. Keeping her out of the loop is out of the question."

"What the hell, back me up Sammy!"

He didn't even blink at the order. "How about we sleep on this? You can bicker more in the morning."

"Fine." Baby said, standing up and heading for the door. "See you in the morning."

"Wait a sec, where the hell are you going?" Dean asked.

She looked at him like he was an idiot. "Going to sleep."

"In the parking lot?"

"What?" she asked at their startled expressions. "Not the first time I've done it."

Sam sighed. "Baby, you're human now. You don't have to sleep on asphalt." He glanced over at his brother and said almost forcefully, "You can have Dean's bed, right Dean?"

Still sore about her stubbornness, the elder Winchester scowled. "I'm not sleeping on that hard couch, man. You give her your bed."

"I can't fit on the couch, dude. You know that."

"Fine. Let's throw for it." He raised his fist in blatant challenge.

"Seriously?" Baby sighed loudly. "I'll sleep on the couch. God, just stop bitching already." Shedding her jacket, she grabbed her shopping bag and stalked into the bathroom. Sam gave his brother a disappointed bitchface and started getting ready for bed himself. Annoyed at being made the bad guy, Dean cursed under his breath as he yanked off his jeans and shirt.

When Baby reemerged, she was wearing an oversized T-shirt and loose, dark gray knee-length sweatpants. She didn't look at Dean as she flopped down on the couch and turned on her side so that she faced the back cushions.

His anger bled away as he stared at her back. She obviously didn't see that if she was injured, Dean couldn't fix her with a wrench and a screwdriver. That was what scared him the most - that if something did happen to her, he wouldn't be able to do a thing. Too many people around him had died because of this life. He'd never forgive himself if anything happened to her. He cared about her too much.

Grabbing the comforter from his bed, Dean gently draped it over her body. "Good night, Baby," he whispered. When she didn't respond, he shook his head and crawled under his covers. _I'll explain it to her in the morning._

* * *

She woke up hearing familiar whimpers and groans. Sitting up on the couch, Baby blinked once to activate her headlights, casting a dim light in her immediate area as she trained her now-glowing eyes on the two beds.

They were having nightmares again.

It wasn't the first time. With the hardships they'd suffered, sleep was frequently plagued with monsters even they couldn't vanquish. Baby was used to long nights cradling her sleeping boys in her seats. Sam tended to toss around more than his brother, while Dean had a habit of flinching in remembered pain while muttering familiar, long-dead names. The most she could do then was make them comfortable, shifting springs so that they could sleep without sore backs in the morning.

But now she could do more.

She rose from the couch, draping the blanket over her shoulders like a protective tarp, and walked to sit between the twin beds. She leaned back against the nightstand and stretched her legs out before her. Her headlights blinked off as she started to hum.

_Winter is here again, Oh Lord,  
Haven't been home in a year or more  
I hope she holds on a little longer_

_Sent a letter on a long summer day  
Made of silver, not of clay,  
Ooh, I've been runnin' down this dusty road_

_Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'  
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow  
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'_

Long hours playing and hearing the same cassette tapes over and over had given Baby an ear for music, and her voice was perfectly suited for singing. The boys slowly grew less restless as she continued to sing.

_I've been trying to make it home  
Got to make it before too long  
Ooh, I can't take this very much longer, no_

_I'm stranded in the sleet and rain,  
Don't think I'm ever gonna make it home again  
The mornin' sun is risin', it's kissing the day_

___Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'  
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow  
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'_  
Whooa, my my my my my...for tomorrow

By now Sam had settled on his stomach, his head turned towards Baby with a peaceful expression stealing over his face. She could almost see the last several years slipping away, back to when he had been dragged back into the life by Dean when John had gone missing that last time. He'd been almost normal, glowing with happiness at being with his Jessica. Losing her had been what brought him back, and while Baby had loved having her Sammy back, she wished it hadn't been because of that girl's death.

___Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'  
Ooh, I don't know where I'll be tomorrow  
Wheel in the sky keeps me yearnin'  
Oh, I don't know, I don't know_

___Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'  
Ooh, I don't know where I'll be tomorrow  
Ooh, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know-oh-oh_

___Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'  
Don't know where I'll be tomorrow  
Ohh, the wheel on the sky keeps on turnin'  
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'_

Humming the last few bars, Baby tried to think of something else to sing. Sam was completely relaxed and sound asleep, but Dean's expression was still tight with pain, his mind enslaved by his inner demons. He didn't relax easy, Baby knew, and it would take more than a Journey song to lull him to deeper sleep. Shifting closer to Dean's bedside, she continued singing.

_Carry on my wayward son  
There'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more_

_Once I rose above the noise and confusion  
Just to get a glimpse behind this illusion  
I was soaring ever higher  
But I flew too high_

Dean's eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if he was frowning. Without stopping, Baby reached up to smooth away the lines with her fingertips.

_Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man  
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man  
I hear the voices when I'm dreamin'  
I can hear them say - _

Suddenly his hand shot out from beneath his pillow and clamped around her wrist. The shock made her freeze, eyes wide as she waited for him to wake up and yell at her. But then something strange happened. With a muffled grunt and a soft snore, Dean rolled over on his back and tugged at Baby's wrist as if to pull the girl into bed with him.

Baby knew that this was a bad idea. She wasn't an idiot in any sense of the word. But this was her Dean, and her Dean was hurting. Besides, he was asleep. Not like anything was going to happen...

Swallowing the sudden tightness in her throat, Baby let him pull her under the sheet and lay beside him. His body was warm, much warmer than her blanket had been, so she left the covering on the floor. Resting her head on Dean's shoulder, Baby wet her lips and whispered one last stanza as she watched his face smooth out in slumber.

_Carry on my wayward son  
There'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more_

* * *

The next morning Sam woke up bright and early, stretching his long limbs as he tried to blink the sleep from his eyes. He hadn't slept so deeply in several weeks, and for the first time in months he couldn't remember having dreamed any nightmares. He looked over to see if Dean was awake, and the sight nearly made Sam's jaw dislocate in shock.

Dean's arms were wrapped around Baby, holding her against his chest like a cherished toy, her head was tucked underneath his chin. Their legs were tangled together, and while it was clear that hadn't done anything during the night, neither sleeper looked like they'd wake up anytime soon.

Sam smirked as he quietly pulled on clean clothes and left to scrounge up coffee and breakfast. _That's one way to forgive each other, I guess, _he thought with a chuckle.

* * *

**They really can't stay mad at each other, can they?**

**Review please! It's right down there, above the Follow and Favorite boxes! Drop a line or two, just so I know how you like it!**


	6. All Eyes On Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_Sam smirked as he quietly pulled on clean clothes and left to scrounge up coffee and breakfast.** That's one way to forgive each other, I guess, **he thought with a chuckle._

* * *

Sitting across the street within a "borrowed" Camry, the Winchesters trained their binoculars on the interior of Christopher's Luxury Showroom. In the backseat, Baby squirmed uncomfortably. "This is all sorts of wrong," she said. "Me sitting in another car. It's not natural. Can't I wait outside?"

"No," Dean said shortly from the driver's seat. "Quit your bitching."

In the passenger seat, Sam rolled his eyes. This was the most they'd spoken to each other since they left the hotel. He didn't know what had transpired when they woke up, but when he returned with breakfast, Dean had been on the computer doing research, Baby was sitting on Sam's bed looking very upset, and neither would explain what had happened.

Quite frankly, Sam doubted that they would. Stubbornness seemed to be another characteristic his brother and Impala shared.

"Okay, so what's this Christopher Braxton's deal?" he asked to break the tense silence.

Baby flipped open her notepad to check her facts. "He opened this showroom opened four months ago. From what Sammy found out, all the out-of-town cars have been bought by single men who live in and around Valence. Several have made multiple purchases. Replacing the ones that die with newer models." A rumble in her throat betrayed the anger simmering just beneath the surface. "Whoever's changing the cars is probably working out of there."

"Kinda dead in there now, huh?" Sam remarked. The only people inside were a pair of dark-haired gentlemen admiring the Porsche on display and a woman wearing red behind the front desk.

"Guess the market base for a sexy Transformer hasn't expanded too much," quipped Dean. His binoculars suddenly trained on the buxom lady. "What about the lady in red? Is she one of them?"

"Yeah, she's a car," Baby said shortly.

"Wonder what make and model she is."

"Are you serious?" asked Baby. "She's a baby. Can't be any older than a two thousand."

Dean gave a low whistle. "She's got more curves than a cyclone. Maybe a Camaro?"

The rumble of Baby's revving engine forced Sam to clear his throat loudly to cover up the sound. "Maybe she has information about the transformations that the others don't, seeing as she works here," he said. "Baby, how about you head inside?"

"Great idea. Stay in the car," she said curtly. "I'll be right back." She climbed out of the Camry and slammed the door shut, the force jostling the brothers and cracking the back windowpane slightly.

Removing the binoculars from his eyes, Dean shook his head with a confused frown in place. "What the hell's her problem?"

"Maybe if you didn't drool over the newer model she wouldn't be angry at you."

"What, I can't just look and appreciate?"

Sam could only give him a flat glare of _You have got to be kidding me _before raising his binoculars to watch Baby's back.

* * *

Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, Baby strutted into the showroom. She was still simmering from Dean's comments about the red-clad car. She knew he had a wandering eye for women, but now he was looking at other cars? Was she not good enough for him anymore?

_Doesn't he...love me anymore?_

The thought made her insides hurt in bad ways. Pasting on a congenial smile, she went up to the red-clad girl behind the desk and said, "Hi, I'm new in town. Some of the ladies told me I should be asking for Christopher?"

The curvaceous woman smiled. "Finally. You must be the new girl."

_Ex-CUSE me, the Legos in my lungs are older than you, babycheeks, _Baby thought darkly. "That's me. I'm Paula."

"Rachel. You need to talk to those men over there," said Rachel, pointing across the showroom at the gentlemen who was admiring the other displayed vehicles. "The portly man is a valued customer, and the other is a potential new buyer."

Baby glanced over and shivered. Something in her core warmed up, like her heating system was suddenly working at full-blast. Shaking it off, she strode towards the indicated men. The remaining anger she felt at Dean helped put a confident sway in her hips to make them notice her.

Apparently it worked. When their eyes landed on her, the way they looked at her made her inner engine hum pleasantly, causing a smile to form on her lips. "I'm told that you gentlemen are in the market," Baby said in greeting.

"That we are," the portly man nodded. He had dark brown eyes and a few gray hairs sprinkled in his dark locks. "I am Arthur, this is my friend Sebastian."

Sebastian was a lean, wiry fellow with soft blue eyes. He bowed slightly in greeting. "And you're called...?"

For some reason, Baby felt an instinctive urge to tell him the truth. _Magic. There's magic in here,_ she reminded herself. She barely managed to force her mouth to say, "Paula."

"Paula?" Arthur tutted with his tongue. "Huh. Small."

"Excuse me?" she asked, puzzled at his reply.

"In Latin, Paula means 'small'," Sebastian explained. "A very plain, common name."

Baby bristled at his high-handed statement. "You're very rude, you know that?"

He held his hands up in apology. "Forgive me. I'm liable to trip over my own tongue when faced with a beautiful woman."

The clumsy flattery made Baby blush as her inner engine hummed again. This man reminded her very much of how Dean stumbled through his words when he was flustered.

"I, on the other hand, am looking for someone to fill a vacancy," Arthur said, drawing focus back to him. He made a point of looking her up and down with leery eyes, obviously resting his gaze longest on her chest and legs. Apparently pleased with what he saw, he leaned forward to say, "I think someone like you would be perfect for me."

She took a step back to put space between them. _When I get out of here, I'm asking Dean for a bath. This guy's slimy._ "Sorry, I'm already spoken for. But I'm flattered, really."

"Perhaps I can negotiate with your owner."

"He won't deal."

"I can be very persuasive."

Baby took another step back, her eyes narrowing slightly. She had a fair idea of how strong she was, but she couldn't just ram into this man. If she broke a rib, it'd be hard to explain how she did so when she appeared to be half his weight.

Thankfully, she heard her salvation arrive from behind. "There you are, Paula." A muscled arm slipped around her waist and tugged her against a sturdy chest. "What did I tell you about wandering off like that? We're going to be late."

"Sorry," she said, leaning against Dean with a smile. "If you'll excuse me gentlemen, I really must go now." She let Dean guide her out of the showroom, whispering, "I told you to wait in the car."

"You looked like you were in trouble. Did they try anything with you?" he asked, a scowl in place on his face.

"What does it matter to you?"

"Nobody hurts you. Not while I'm around to do anything about it."

And there was that full-blast heated feeling again. Unable to completely stop her blush, she settled for nodding to Rachel as they passed the front desk.

For some reason, the woman was giving her a dark, hateful glare. It felt like a laser was cutting through her frame. Dean glanced over and mumbled, "Huh. Didn't think cars could get jealous."

"Is that what that look is?" Baby asked. "But why would she be jealous of me?"

"Well, let's face it sweetheart. You've got a hot rod of an owner."

The crack made her grin. "Modest much?"

"You said it yourself." His hand dropped from her waist once they were outside, and she couldn't help wishing that it didn't. "So what did you learn?"

"Those two are definitely in the market. The fat one's looking for a replacement, and he made a pass at me."

"What?"

"Yeah, apparently I'm desirable. I told him I was taken." The urge suddenly came upon her, and before Baby could stop herself, her hand impulsively sought out Dean's. His fingers seemed to perfectly fit the spaces between hers, and for the first time since waking up that morning, the Impala felt complete.

Dean tugged his hand free and sharply asked, "What was that for?"

"I - I'm sorry." She didn't know how to explain herself. In truth, she was still stunned at her actions. "I - I need to go for a walk."

Dean took a step after her. "No, Baby you can't - "

"I can do whatever I damn well please. Why don't you go back inside and talk to Rachel?" Baby snapped, feeling her engine run hot with anger. "Betcha she'll talk to you if I'm not there to - how do you put it? Cramp your style?"

"That's not - "

She waved her hand to cut him off. "Just forget it. I'll take Sammy with me." Angrily shoving past Dean, the young woman headed back to the Camry as Sam climbed out of the smaller car. With a jerk of her head she took off down the street, knowing he'd catch up quick enough with his giant stride.

A large hand closed around hers. She looked up at Sam and gave a weak smile. "Sorry about that, Sammy."

"He's not sure how to act around you, Baby. It's tough on him too." He shrugged. "I know that's not an excuse, but Dean's trying. He really is."

"I know he is. I - I just want to solve this case and go back to being a car. That'll solve everything," Baby said. "Everything can go back to being how it was before."

Sam looked like he wanted to disagree, but instead he said, "How about we walk through town and see if any more local cars know anything?" Baby smiled and nodded in response, and together they continued down the street hand-in-hand.

But despite Sam's warm grip on her fingers, Baby couldn't help wishing it was Dean's hand holding hers.

* * *

**Aaaaaand they're mad again. Geez.**

**Review please!**


	7. Emotions Really Cramp Baby's Style

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_But despite Sam's warm grip on her fingers, Baby couldn't help wishing it was Dean's hand holding hers._

* * *

After two hours of walking through Valence, Sam and Baby had little to show for their efforts. All the cars they interviewed told a similar story; one day they just woke up human. Most had been alive for the whole four months, some less than that, but each one said the exact same thing.

_It was after the mechanic came to fix me_.

"That mechanic keeps coming up. I wish they were more specific about who he was," said Sam as they sat outside the town burger joint. A pile of burgers were piled on the plastic tray between them, and Baby was digging in with surprising gusto. "Anybody touch you before you transformed, Baby?"

"Can't be sure," she said around a mouth full of meat and buns.

"Weren't you paying attention?"

"That's not how cars work, Sammy," Baby informed him. "Our perception of the passage of time is vague, at best. Be lucky they even remember when the mechanic came around." Tossing the empty wrapper aside, she unwrapped another burger and took a large bite. "These are delicious. Now I understand why you and Dean eat so many that wrappers litter my backseats."

He smiled at her appetite. "Better slow down there. Eating too fast will make you sick." Picking up a burger of his own, he started to eat as he spoke. "So explain something to me. I know you're Dean's car now, but you were Dad's before that. Did you love Dad more when he owned you?"

Baby chewed slowly as she thought about her answer. "Yes and no," she finally said. "I love you boys in my own special way, and I loved John dearly when he was my owner. But - it's hard to really explain. He was my owner, but he didn't _own _me."

"There's a difference?"

"A world of difference, like night and day. An owner is just that, a person who drives you around. But if a person _owns _you, it's a bond that you feel all the way to your hubcaps. Dean _owns _me that way." She gave Sam a sheepish smile and said, "Did that make any sense at all?"

"Sort of," he replied, thinking of how Castiel had once described the connection between himself and Dean as "profound." He sipped his soda and changed topics. "What's the earliest thing you can remember?"

Pursing her lips in thought, Baby's silver eyes lifted skyward. "Hmmm...I can faintly recall when John bought me at Rainbow Motors with a little nudge from Dean," she said with a grin. "Then it's a blurry smear until John started driving me all the time. I gained more awareness as the years went on, more from exposure to him and you boys. It got to the point that I could almost tune in and out at will, like a radio dial." Finishing her burger, she leaned back and sighed. "But when John gave me to Dean...I dunno, it was like waking up from a half-remembered dream. Everything started getting so much clearer. I gained a sense of myself, of you and Dean and everything that you did. I was alive, you could say."

"But that was almost eighteen years ago. You're forty-six but you only look twenty-eight."

"I told you, it's because Dean's taken such good care of me. I never really aged after that." She looked away from Sam and blinked when she spotted a familiar blonde haircut across the street. "Hey, that's Madeline."

"Madeline?" repeated Sam, confused.

"She's the local '59 Eldorado that was at the last crime scene." Baby quickly finished her soda and stood up. "I'm going to talk to her. See you in a while."

He started to rise. "Dean said - "

"I know what Dean said, but she's shy. You can watch, but don't let her see you, okay?"

Sam gestured to his too-tall frame helplessly. "How do you expect that to happen? I'm not exactly inconspicuous."

"I dunno, use your ninja skills or something."

Before he could give a retort, Baby was across the street. He couldn't help giving a low whistle. _Damn, she's fast_.

* * *

She had to put on a bit of speed to catch up to Madeline before she was out of sight. "Madeline, hey. How's tricks?"

The Eldorado was startled by her sudden appearance. "Baby? What're you doing here?" she squeaked, trying to get a better grip on the plastic shopping bags she was carrying.

"Been asking around about how we've been getting changed. You know anything about it?"

Madeline looked around nervously. "You shouldn't be asking around like this. Somebody might not like it."

"Who? Do you know who did this?" Baby asked.

"All I know is that you shouldn't question when someone gives you a free upgrade. They might take it back."

The nervous way she said it made Baby suspicious. "If you know something, you have to tell me. My boys and I can keep you safe."

"Not likely." Hefting up her bags, Madeline started to scurry down the street - and promptly ran into a man at full speed. Baby cried out in shock as man and car-woman tumbled to the ground. The shopping bags spilled their contents everywhere.

"Forgive me," the man apologized, helping Madeline regain her footing. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Baby quickly knelt to pick up the scattering objects. Reaching for a can of peaches, she felt a large hand cover her own. Shocked, she looked up and her eyes widened as she recognized the face staring at her. "Sebastian. This is a surprise."

His smile was slightly awestruck as he pointed to her in recognition. "Paula, wasn't it?"

"That's right." Smiling at the awkward young man, Baby held out an open bag. "What're you doing around here?"

"Just walking around. I grew up in a small town, you see, and I love breathing in fresh air when I can." Sebastian started heaping the groceries into the bag she offered. "Are you also taking in the sights?"

"I was actually speaking with Madeline," Baby replied, gesturing to the other woman. "But she was about to leave anyway."

"In that case..." Shy blue eyes lifted from Baby to meet Madeline's gaze. "Would you mind...if I accompanied you, Madeline?"

The Eldorado nodded, her expression slackening to something akin to affection. "I'd be very pleased by that," she said in a breathy tone. Looking back at Baby, she smiled and said, "Excuse me."

"Madeline, we should still talk about - "

"Of course," was her abstract reply, eyes back on Sebastian as she gave Baby a dismissive wave. "Later. Goodbye."

"Bye," Baby whispered, watching the pair head down the street with their heads bowed together. The closeness made something in her chest tug in longing. _Lucky woman, that Madeline_.

* * *

Dean was watching TV when she returned to the motel room. "So you were chatting up Sunny Jim from the showroom?" he asked, switching off the TV and turning in his chair to face her. When she frowned in puzzlement, he waved his cell phone. "Sam texted me."

"His name's Sebastian," was her short reply. She strode across the room and sat on Dean's bed, facing the older Winchester with a hard look in her eye. "And since when did you care about who I see? What's got your boxers in a bunch?"

"I've been going over the files again. Couple witnesses say that they saw a man with a few of the girls before they vanished. Dark-haired, handsome, clean-cut." He wasn't jealous, he told himself, but he hated how his words sounded. They were sharp and biting, like a domineering boyfriend accusing his girl of making eyes at another man. _Which isn't half untrue, _his heart told him. _You care about her. She's the only other thing outside of your family you've ever really cared about. Cassie, Anna, Lisa, Ben...everyone came second to Baby. And she's the only thing you care for that you haven't completely lost. _

_Admit it. You're scared she's gonna up and leave you too_.

Baby crossed her arms. "Sebastian is a sweet young man, and I'll thank you for not accusing him before we have evidence."

The way she defended this guy rubbed Dean the wrong way, and he didn't bother hiding the fact. "You got a lot to learn about huntin', Baby. First thing you learn is not to let your emotions get in the way."

"My emotions?" she repeated, voice breaking. "You think I _want _to have emotions? You think I _like _having these blasted feelings? They've done nothing but confuse me every which way, and I hate them!" Silver eyes flashed up angrily, and Dean could swear there were tongues of hellfire dancing in their depths. "Dean, I've been human for almost two whole days and I can't calm down enough to think straight! You know how to push everything back and feel nothing, but I can't! I feel _everything_, and it's too much!" She speared her fingers into her tangled locks and clutched her head, shaking furiously. "Everything's too damn much," she mumbled weakly.

Seeing his Baby this shaken up was absolute torture for the hunter. It struck him just then how hard the whole experience was for her. He hadn't really considered her feelings, and if what half she said was true, she'd been under an enormous weight. And if Dean knew anything at all, he knew how that weight could hurt.

So he dug into his duffel bag and pulled out a pack of cards. "Wanna learn how to play poker?"

From the way her head snapped up in shock, Baby hadn't been expecting that. "Huh?"

"Poker. I can teach you."

"Why?"

"Playing cards usually helps calm me down." Dean gave her a sheepish grin. "Maybe it'll help calm that mess you're having trouble with."

* * *

Three hours later, the hunter and Impala were playing for pocket change and laughter was ringing through the motel room. Dean laid down his hand with a triumphant smirk. "Full house."

"Awww, not again," she sighed. She tossed her cards down on the discard pile, a smile of her own decorating her lips. "You're pretty good."

"Lots of practice, Baby. Lots of practice hustlin' for my meals and your gas."

Baby was still giggling when Sam opened the room door. The way he stood in the doorway conveyed that he was the proverbial bringer of bad news. "Sammy, what is it?" she asked, half-rising from her chair as panic mounted in her system. "What's happened?"

"Baby..." His hazel eyes betrayed the information even before he said it. "Madeline's body was found an hour ago."

"What?" Her eyes widened in horror. "Where?"

"Off in a back alley." Sam's face creased with pain. "Baby, I am so sorry."

Dean saw how she reeled from the information, shock and loss plain on her face. The amount of pain in her eyes was almost a physical blow to him. He and Sam were used to people dying on this job; Baby wasn't. Not in the human sense.

_"You know how to push everything back and feel nothing, but I can't! I feel **everything**, and it's too much!"_

He reached out to embrace her, but she easily ducked away from his arms. "I - I need to take a walk," she stammered. "I gotta - I hafta think about - "

Then faster than he could blink, the door banged open and she was gone. Dean grabbed his jacket and jammed his cell phone in his pocket. "You head to the crime scene, see what you can find out."

"What about you?" Sam asked. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going after Baby before she does something stupid."

* * *

**Sorry this took so long! Drop a r****eview on your way out please!**


	8. A Righteous Man and His Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"Where are you going?" "I'm going after Baby before she does something stupid."_

* * *

Dean found her later that night in a dive bar.

It wasn't hard to pick her out in the crowd. The only girl in the place, her hair was pulled up in a sloppy pile of curls that made her look like a hot mess, tendrils dripping around her face and into alcohol-hazed silver eyes as she matched a burly trucker shot for shot. The crowd gathered around them egged both participants on, filling shot glass after shot glass.

"Dean!" she exclaimed cheerfully, giving him a lopsided smile. "Hi Dean! Look, these nice guys keep buying me alcohol as long as I don't keel over!"

The guy nearest Dean nudged the hunter with a grin. "You're one lucky bastard, man. She's a keeper."

"Yeah, don't I know it," Dean absently replied. He spotted the line of empty whiskey bottles on the bar and grimaced. If he had to guess, Baby had drunk almost half her body weight in liquor. The fact that she hadn't passed out or thrown up was something incredible. _Then again, it's just another kind of alcohol coursing through her body. Another type of gasoline_. "Okay Baby, I think you've had enough. Let's go."

"Nawwwww, not yeeeeeeet."

_Oh Christ Almighty, she's plastered_. "Why?"

"Becaaaaauuuuuusssssse, tha's whyyyyyyyy!" whined Baby. She pointed to the trucker sitting opposite her who was red-faced and swaying in his seat like a pendulum. "If I drink him under the table, I'll get a hundred bucks. I wan' tha' hund'ed bucks, Deeeeeeeeaaaaan." Reaching for a full shot glass, she knocked it back in one fluid motion and slammed the glass back onto the table upside down. The remaining four met with the same fate, emptied and overturned in rapid succession. Leveling a finger at the trucker, she said, "And you, big boy! Drink up!"

The trucker groped for the shot glass in front of him, missed it twice, then overbalanced on his stool and dropped like a stone to the ground. The surrounding men let out shouts of surprise and started exchanging money. Bills were stacked in front of Baby, who collected them with a dopey smile. "Pleasure drinkin' with you guys!" she chirped as she hopped off her stool.

She managed to stumble out the door before her legs gave out from under her. Dean gave a shocked "oomph!" as she collided with his side. It felt like he'd been slammed into a barrel. One arm wrapped around her waist as the other hand sought out hers. "You all right?"

"Tha's some goooooood gas, Dean," she hummed, rubbing her cheek against his T-shirt like a cat. "Made me all warm and happy and calm."

"Alcohol has a tendency to do that. You probably shouldn't have drunk so much."

Faster than an eye-blink the Impala had a look of pure anguish on her face that was breaking Dean's heart. "Why shouldn't I? Madeline's dead." A long ragged breath was dragged from her lips as she tried to regain her senses. "I said I could help her, that we could protect her, and she ended up dead because I kept asking questions."

"That isn't your fault."

"Course it is." She coughed and wheezed a couple times, her rattling cough more pronounced. "Why are you here? Sammy needs you."

"Sam's a big boy, he can play FBI without me. I'm here because I was worried about you," Dean said firmly. He stopped walking to lean Baby up against the nearest steady surface, which was the brick wall of a building that ran along a side street. His hands pressed flat on either side of Baby so as to catch her if she fell. "Catch your breath a bit. Sometimes drinking leaves people a little winded."

She turned to rest her back against the wall, looking up at Dean with glazed, half-lidded eyes. "But I'm not people." Baby's tongue darted out to wet her lips, and he was powerless to look away. "I'm not _real_ people. I'm an ugly _freak_."

The word made him tense up instinctively, remembering how Sam used to flinch when people called him that. "You're not a freak, Baby," he said harshly before forcing his voice to be more gentle. "You're just under a spell. And you're pretty sloshed, which isn't helping much."

"But I'm still ugly," Baby said, her voice cracking. "Is that why you don't love me anymore?"

"_Huh?_"

"You didn't say I wasn't ugly. That's gotta be why." Her hands had somehow managed to slip his coat open, one gripping the hem of his T-shirt while the other fisted over his racing heart. "You don't love me cuz I'm an ugly, fake person."

"Baby, you're beautiful." _Stop there_, his common sense was practically screaming, but the need to fix what was hurting his Baby ran almost as deeply as his need to protect his brother. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever known."

Imagine his surprise when instead of calming down, her lust-filled eyes were suddenly swimming with tears. "But not the most beautiful _woman_," she said, stressing the last word. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she started to sob. "I'm not even a woman to you."

"Aw, c'mon Baby, don't cry." Now Dean was really floundering. Exterminating fugly monsters and fighting demons came easily enough to the elder Winchester; calming crying women did not. He reached up to wipe away Baby's tears with the pad of his thumb. They scalded his skin like hot water, and when he popped the digit into his mouth to lessen the pain, he could taste the salt from her tears and the spice from her skin. _This was **not **my best idea..._

"I feel really hot," she whimpered, squirming against the wall as she tried to pull off her jacket. "Dean, I think my engine's overheating."

"Don't worry, it'll pass." He gently pried her fumbling fingers from the clasps of her jacket and undid them himself. The leather was sliding down her shoulders and arms when Dean actually processed the scene. He and Baby were practically flush with each other, her back against the wall behind her as her sweat-slicked skin glowing in the dim light from the streetlight shining just twelve feet away. Her reddened face was only a foot from his as she looked up with chrome-colored eyes that were drowning in desire.

Desire that hadn't been aimed his way in quite some time, and from the way his body was responding to it, Dean knew this would get very uncomfortable very quickly. "I-It's just the alcohol," he stammered, backing away from her.

He didn't get far at all. Her lower hand grabbed a good fistful of his jacket while the one over his heart moved to slide behind his neck. Somehow Baby managed to sway forward and push herself up on her tiptoes, brushing noses and bringing her lips centimeters from Dean's. "No, it's just you and me," she whispered in a husky voice before closing the distance.

A wave of pure desire swamped Dean's brain and shorted out every thinking fuse, leaving his instincts to guide him. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush with his body as he backed them both into the solid brick wall. Her curves mashed against the planes of his chest, making her gasp and giving Dean the opening he needed to deepen the kiss.

_SON of a BITCH_. She tasted like frickin' apple pie. Apples, and cinnamon, and spice, and _sweet Mother of God, _she was kissing him like he was the only thing keeping her alive.

Tongues dueled for control as Baby moaned against his mouth, tilting her head for better access. She released her grip on his jacket and speared her fingers into his short hair, tugging to bring his mouth even closer. He hauled her higher up the wall and groaned as her legs locked around his hips.

"Dean," she whispered hoarsely against his lips. "Dean, please. Take me home."

Those words were ultimately what broke through his hormone-clogged brain, like ice-cold water had just been dumped over his head. With enormous difficulty and reluctance (how the hell was she _this _good a kisser for a first-timer?) Dean broke contact with an audible pop. They were both panting heavy, her breath smelling of whiskey and her eyes foggy with desire and lust. Dean tried to regain his bearings as he gently lowered her to the ground, prying her off his body like he was removing a koala.

She didn't make it easy. In fact, even after her boots touched sidewalk again, she was right back up on her tiptoes to feather kisses along the side of his jaw. If she was any other woman, Dean would've had them at her place and halfway out of their clothes. But this was Baby, and she was drunk and under a spell and not herself at all. That was the only reason she was acting this way, kissing him this way, saying these words as if they were the only truth in the world. All because of a damn spell.

He took a shaky breath and stuttered, "B-Baby, y-you gotta, we gotta s-stop."

"Why?" she whispered, her throaty alto dropping a few notes with her arousal. "I want this, and so do you. Why should we stop?"

"Because it's not right, what we're doing." She was still pressed up against him, and the contact was damaging his ability to form a coherent argument. _Damn, it really has been a long time since I've gotten laid. _"Baby, no. This can't - we can't - " She moved to kiss him again, and Dean had to grab her shoulders to push her back. "Stop it. This isn't going to happen, Baby."

Sobriety struck her hard and fast, clearing the fog from her eyes and revealing the tumble of emotions that filled them. Betrayal. Heartbreak. Rejection. All that passed through her eyes in a matter of seconds, and Dean silently cursed at his clumsiness. The horrified expression that finally settled on Baby's face was as if he'd stuck Ruby's knife in her heart.

But before he could speak, Baby ducked out of his grasp, grabbed her jacket, and took off into the night like she was in the Daytona 500. "Baby!" he yelled after her, but it was too late.

_Great going, idiot, _his conscience screamed. ___You were supposed to be keeping her from doing something stupid. __You weren't supposed to be participating in the stupid. And making out with your drunk, sexy Impala is definitely stupid with a capital S_.

His inner scolding was interrupted by the sound of his cell phone going off. He flipped it open and snapped, "Sam, please tell me you've got a lead."

* * *

**I tried, really I did. Smexy makeout sessions are really hard for me to write.**

**Review? Please? Pretty please?**


	9. Baby's Stepping Up

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_His inner scolding was interrupted by the sound of his cell phone going off. He flipped it open and snapped, "Sam, please tell me you've got a lead."_

* * *

Looking down at Madeline's corpse, Sam felt the bile rising to the back of his throat. Every inch of exposed skin was sliced or broken, blood caking her face and hair. Mottled finger-shaped bruises peppered her arms and wrapped around her neck, showing just how strong her attacker had been. The beautiful older woman hadn't stood a chance.

"Geez, that's awful," came Dean's rough murmur as he joined his brother. "She looks like she tangled with King Kong and lost."

"This is different from the other car-girls. It's like someone took a tire iron and just whaled on her," Sam said. "Every bone's been broken, every organ ruptured. This was personal." Suddenly he noticed something was missing. "Did you find Baby?"

"Yeah, but then she pulled a Fast and Furious on me."

"And you let her go?"

"She's got a V8 engine in perfect condition with almost three hundred horses at her disposal, how could I - ?" The ringing of Sam's phone interrupted Dean's excuse. Shooting his brother a look, Sam pulled out his phone and answered.

"Hello?" His eyes widened as he glanced back at Dean. "Baby? Where are you?" He listened for a few minutes, frowning in puzzlement, then said, "Okay, I'll tell him. We'll finish up here in another few minutes. Stay there and keep the door locked. Yeah, see you in a bit."

"Well?" Dean demanded in worry as his brother hung up.

"She's safe. Back at the motel. Said she found some things out, and to tell you that she was sorry about what happened earlier." The younger man raised an eyebrow at his sibling. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" At Sam's disbelieving scoff Dean glared at him, then quickly dropped his gaze in guilt. "I found Baby downtown and started getting her back to the motel. Dude, she was plastered. Drank herself halfway through a bar and put a couple men under the table by the time I found her. She...she started saying stuff about her being ugly and a freak, and saying that I didn't care about her..." He shook his head as if the very thought was ridiculous. "Next thing I knew, she was crying and I - "

The way he was faltering, Sam had to ask. "Did you kiss her?" Sure enough, Dean coughed and sputtered, his face turning bright red. "You did, didn't you?"

"We wound up against a wall."

"And?" Sam nodded in expectation, but when nothing seemed to follow the admission, he impatiently repeated, "AND?"

Dean sighed. "And that's it. I came to my senses, told her no, and then - "

"Wait, you told her no? Seriously?" Sam's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and his eyes went wide with shock. He looked over Dean and demanded, "Who are you and what have you done to my Impala-obsessed manwhore brother?"

"You really think I'd - " Dean shot him a dirty look, then ran a hand over his face. "I wouldn't do that to her. Hell, none of this would've happened if she hadn't been drunk."

It was clear how upset this was making Dean, so Sam wisely drew the conversation back to the case.

* * *

When they returned to their room, Baby was sitting cross-legged on Dean's bed, her eyes glued to the television screen with a look of pure wonder. Cautious after their last encounter, Dean shuffled closer to see what she was watching. The sight of a signature yellow suit made his eyes widen. "Kill Bill? Really?"

"It was on," Baby said, watching Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu as they duked it out. "Learn anything new?"

"Not much more, except that whoever killed Madeline had little fists and a really big grudge." Sam came over to sit next to Baby as Dean headed for the mini-fridge. "What about you? You said you found some stuff out."

"After I left Dean, I ran into Sebastian again," Baby said. Dean instantly stiffened, but the Impala didn't notice. "He was upset about Madeline as well, but for another reason. He said that he was leaving Madeline at her owner's home when another man came up and led her away, and she seemed to know him. Called him Christopher."

"Christopher Braxton?" Dean guessed, coming over with three beers. Sitting beside Baby, he handed one beer over to his brother and held the other out to her. "The showroom owner?"

The smile she gave him was small and bright as she took the beer, popped the lid off, and took a swig. "One and the same. He gave me a description, and when I came back I managed to find a picture online." She pointed to Sam's laptop on the table, which showed the aforementioned picture. "I showed it to Mr. Hendrix, and he said that this guy was the mechanic that last worked on Sheila before she changed. Couple car-girls I ran into also said he was familiar-looking."

"You've been busy," Sam said, impressed.

"Had to work off that booze. Which also got me thinking." Now she met Dean's eyes. "I don't think I was just tipsy when we...you know...kissed," she said carefully. "When I left you and peeled rubber out of there, the haze cleared almost instantly. Like it was a kind of spell."

Dean's eyes went wide as he followed her train of thought. "You think Braxton's a witch?"

"He must've put some kind of sex-hex on me. It's the only way I can explain what happened earlier with, you know - " She made an uncertain gesture, coughed meaningfully, and took another drink.

"Maybe he slipped it into your drink," Sam posed. "Did you see Braxton there?"

"No, but I _did_ drink a lot in that bar," she admitted. "But I really didn't notice anyone in there acting odd." A sudden yawn caught all three of them by surprise. "Geez, I'm running on empty again and it's only been a few hours, what the hell? These human bodies have sucky gas mileage."

Smiling fondly at her odd words, Dean leaned over to bump shoulders with her. He glanced back at his single bed and sighed. _Might as well, to be sure. _"Look, how about you sleep in the bed tonight? I'll take the couch."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why? We can both fit in the bed."

Unconvinced, he gave her a cautious look. "You're not gonna molest me while I sleep, are you?"

"Depends. You gonna pull a gun on me like you did this morning?"

"I expected to wake up alone!"

"_You _pulled me into bed!"

"Did not! You shut up!" he snapped at Sam, who had finally succumbed to his laughter. "What would you have done if you woke up sharing the bed?" But by this time, Dean was unsuccessfully trying to keep a straight face. "And you," he said, pointing at Baby, "you don't get to laugh, you're supposed to be on my side!"

Baby broke out laughing at that one, leaning back so far as to collapse on the bed in a heap of giggles. Twisting his lips in a mischievous grin, Dean quickly attacked her midsection. Her giggles turned to squeals as she tried to squirm away from his tickling fingers. "Dean, stop! Stop!"

"Surrender!"

Her bright eyes flashed with spunk and fire. "Never!" she proclaimed. She tried to roll away, but the hunter managed to pin her down. They both froze in surprise, Baby's giggles fading into rapid gasps, as green and gray eyes locked. There was a flash of something in her eyes, but when he blinked, all he saw was amusement.

Nevertheless, he pulled away. "I'm thirsty. You?"

"Nah, I'm good."

_That makes one of us, at least_. He quickly headed for the mini-fridge for a bottle of water. He stood up and cracked the top off for a sip, turning back to look at Baby. "It's late. We can mix the witch-killing bomb in the morning and you can help us check out the showroom."

"Me?" she asked, perking up.

"Yeah," he said as Sam emerged from the bathroom. "Your find, your lead."

Her smile could've blinded them. Hopping to her feet, Baby skipped over to Dean and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Dean!" Two more skips brought her to Sam's side, and she used his arm to pull herself on her toes to kiss his cheek as well. "You too, Sammy! You guys won't regret it!" she promised as she went into the bathroom to change.

Sam couldn't help the smile that tugged his lips sideways as he watched Dean chug his water bottle dry in five seconds, a blush coloring his freckled face. "Can't remember the last time I saw you blush when a girl kissed you. Has it really been that long?"

"It hasn't - That's - I'm not - " The blush darkened to full crimson before Dean finally barked, "Shut up, Sam!"

* * *

**Please leave a review on your way out!**


	10. Just Me and My Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"It hasn't - That's - I'm not - " The blush darkened to full crimson until Dean finally barked, "Shut up, Sam!"_

* * *

_A light drizzle fell from the ink-black sky, chilling the air and peppering his skin with tiny droplets of ice. The asphalt was slick with oil and rain, reflecting the light from one lone streetlight in the center of the alley. Rats skittered among the Dumpsters and trash like red-eyed shadows, squeaking as they found a scrap of food or a fight._

_He had gone twenty paces when he spotted the body. It was lying just inside the streetlight's puddle of light, barely touched by the rain. Hasn't been there too long, he thought, training his gun on the motionless form. This meant something was hunting in the area, and as the only other human in the alley, Dean was looking like the next possible target. For one terrifying moment he thought it was Sam or Castiel, but looking closer negated both options. It was too small to be his brother, and it wore neither suit or trenchcoat._

_The second he stepped into the lamplight, several things were made clear about the body. It was a young woman, lying on her side with her back to him, her hair fanned out over the asphalt like she'd been brought down running. A darker puddle was visible beneath her body, shining dark red in the light and carrying a familiar tang of copper in the crisp air._

_Carefully approaching the body, he crouched down and reached for her shoulder. He flinched when he felt the sticky blood soaked in the fabric of her shirt. Swallowing bile, he turned her over - and fell backwards on his rear, insides clenching with horror as he saw the girl's face._

_Sightless silver eyes lolled in their sockets, staring at him with the glassy stare of the dying. "Why, Dean?" her bloodless lips rasped. "Why didn't you save me?"_

* * *

He jolted awake to see the motel room barely lit with dawn's gray light, Sam asleep in the other bed, and no sign of Baby anywhere.

He hadn't taken three breaths before pulling on a pair of jeans and jamming his boots on, adrenaline sending him into overdrive as he imagined the worst. In less than a second he was grabbing a shirt and stumbling towards the door. _If you can hear me, God, so help me, if anything's happened to her - _

The door opened softly, and Dean looked up with fear and hope in his eyes. There was Baby in the doorway, clearly confused by his frazzled half-dressed appearance. "Dean, what's wrong?" she asked softly so as not to wake Sam.

"Where the hell were you?"

She held out her hands, loaded with a bag of donuts, a folded newspaper, and a tray of coffee. "I know you and Sammy need breakfast, so I went down to the store and got some." Depositing her load on the table, she wiped her hands on her jeans. "I thought I'd be back before you woke up - "

The rest of her words were smothered when Dean took the necessary two steps to pull her into a crushing hug. She tried to protest, but stopped when he buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled that familiar smell of the Impala's aged interior. "Jesus, Baby, you scared the crap out of me," he said, voice gruff with sleep and worry. "I thought something had happened to you."

"Well, I'm fine." Her hands rose to lay on his bare back and pat awkwardly to calm him down. "I'm fine, Dean. You can let go now." He did so reluctantly, now embarrassed by his overreaction. Baby picked up a cardboard cup and held it out to him, along with the paper. "Get some fuel in your tank and check this out."

Sipping the hot liquid, Dean looked at the article as Baby coaxed Sam awake with his own cup of coffee. It was a personal announcement in Valence's local section, detailing that the Christopher's Luxury Showroom was to have a black-tie affair that night to showcase "the latest line of luxury cars." _Invitation only_ read the final line in the announcement. "Tell me you scored invites."

"Duh," Baby confirmed, extracting two envelopes from the pocket of her jacket. "Rachel wasn't manning the desk, so I managed to charm the boy working there into giving me a pair."

"A pair?" Sam repeated, sipping his coffee as he finger-combed his hair back. "You don't need one?"

"Not if I go in with Dean as his vehicular escort and we bring you in as a prospective client. That way nobody questions why we're poking around the showroom and asking questions." She gave the boys a self-satisfied grin. "Well? Good plan, huh?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded, incredibly impressed with her cleverness. "Good plan."

"So we've got the day to prepare," Sam remarked as he glanced at the assembled ingredients for the witch-killing bomb. "I can get started on the bomb. You two should go out."

"Out?" repeated Dean. "Out where?"

"Well, this is Baby's last day human, right?" Sam had a mischievous smile on his lips as he looked at his brother. "Shouldn't she go see as much of the world as she can?"

Baby gasped, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she looked from brother to brother. "Really? Can we?" she begged Dean, tugging on his arm like a child. "Please, Dean?"

_Aw, crap, she's learned Sam's puppy eyes_. Dean felt his resolve crumbling like the corpse of a phoenix victim. Something in her eyes just made him feel that if he said no, he'd feel worse for it. "Sure, why not. Let's take a walk."

* * *

When she plopped beneath a tree in the park and started yanking off her boots, Dean couldn't help saying, "Seriously?"

Baby looked up, the other boot in her hands. "What?"

The hunter shook his head with an amused smile. "Of all the things you could experience, you just wanna walk barefoot through a park?"

"I've always wanted to feel how grass feels." She wriggled her bare toes in the grass with a giggle. "Ohh, nice. I've always wondered what grass felt like before it's crushed beneath my tires."

He jammed his hands in his pockets, amazed at her childlike reply. "You're strange, you know that?"

"You're surprised?" The black-haired girl patted the ground beside her. "Come sit with me."

"Why?"

"I want you to just relax for a while, Dean. So for the next couple hours, we're not gonna talk about the case."

"So now you're Julia Roberts?" But Dean sat beside his Impala anyway. If he was being honest with himself, the idea that he could relax for a few hours was a tempting one. Inhaling slowly, he shut his eyes and listened to the peaceful hum of noise around them.

For several minutes, nothing was said. Then he felt Baby's hand press against his chest. His eyes popped open just as she pushed him down on the grass. "Wait, what're you - "

"Cool your jets, I'm not gonna assault you in public," she snickered, lying down on her back with a suitable distance between their bodies. "Sometimes you and Sammy look up at the sky. Show me what you see."

Dean looked up at the sky and tried to find the right words. "Well, um...see that one?" He pointed to one cloud, thin with a bulge at its base. "It looks like Ruby's magic knife, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," she said slowly, "kinda." Her arm lifted to point at another cloud. "That one looks like a rosary. And that one's a gun." She looked over at him with sparkling eyes. "Hey, this is really fun."

He didn't reply, too stunned what he saw in her gaze. He'd never had someone look at him like that before, not after they learned what the years and the job had done to him. Suddenly awkward, Dean purposely looked at the sky again, his hand moving to tear grass up by the roots. It gave him something to do that didn't involve looking at her. "So, have you...have you always been, like, conscious of stuff?" he asked gruffly, changing the subject.

"Nope," she said. "Like I told Sammy, it really happened after I became yours."

"So, since I was sixteen."

"Just about." Her hand touched his to halt the senseless murder of the grass between them, drawing his gaze back down to hers. "What's on your mind?"

"You." When she didn't seem to understand his answer, Dean tried to explain. "I mean, you've been smashed up, crashed into, possessed by ghosts - "

"Well, those possessions weren't fun times," she admitted. "But I'm made of tougher steel than most girls."

The light jest didn't break the serious look in Dean's eyes. "What I'm trying to say is, how can you have gone through all that, seen everything we've ever done, and not want to run as far away as you can?"

She looked like a cat regarding something puzzling and fascinating at the same time. "Because I know you," she said as if voicing an obvious truth. Scooting closer, Baby nudged her shoulder to his. "You're a good person, and you'd rather go through Hell again than let anything happen to your family. You try to save everybody you come across, and when you can't, it breaks your heart with guilt. I've seen you try to drown that guilt in a bottle, but I've also seen you get right back up and keep on trying to save people."

He swallowed thickly, tearing his stinging eyes away to stare at the clouds again. He'd had a lot of people say that to him over the years - Sam, Castiel, Bobby, dozens and dozens of their friends who had long since died - but when Baby said it, the words just felt right. Like she believed it herself and knew exactly how to say it so he'd believe as well.

Which, given what she just admitted, made sense. Baby had been his one constant, his one focal point of normalcy, in his entire messed-up life. Even when he'd been alone, she'd been there for him. She knew him better than John had, or Bobby, or Cas, or even Sam. Like she could see straight into his battered, broken, scarred soul and wasn't disgusted by what she saw.

"Besides..." Her smile was brilliant, like the sunlight falling on his face. "Who would pass up the chance to be a part of such incredible adventures?"

"Somebody sane," he deadpanned.

Baby scoffed. "Sanity is an overrated optional feature."

That startled a real laugh from Dean, short but hearty. Baby joined in as her hand covered his, and he moved his fingers to tangle with hers. After the laughter died away, there was nothing but a comfortable silence between them as they continued cloud-watching.

Then Baby said, "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

_T__hat _made him look over in surprise. She was still looking up at the sky, eyes searching for more fluffy cloud creatures. "When I came back, you weren't just freaked out, you were scared. I didn't want to say anything in front of Sammy." She gave him a look that held nothing but concern. "Want to talk about it?"

Dean looked back up at the sky. "Nope."

She squeezed his hand, but all she said was, "Okay."

They stared at the sky for several more hours, just watching the day go past. Neither felt the need to speak again.

* * *

**Dean and Baby quality time. A beautiful thing, huh?**

**Review please!**


	11. Baby's Night Out

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_They stared at the sky for several more hours, just watching the day go past. Neither felt the need to speak again._

* * *

"C'mon Baby, hurry up!" Sam called through the bathroom door. "We're gonna be late!"

"Suck exhaust fumes, Sammy!"

Rolling his eyes, Sam chuckled. He'd handed Baby the dress he'd picked out and shooed her into the bathroom two hours ago, and now the Winchesters were shifting impatiently as they waited for her to re-emerge.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched Dean fidget nervously. _Like a highschooler waiting for his prom date to show up_, he thought with a grin. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his brother so flustered, fingers tugging at his lapels and fiddling with his cufflinks.

The click of the bathroom lock drew their attention back to the opening door. A baleful silver eye glared through the crack. "I look stupid," came her petulant voice.

"Stop griping and get your butt out here," Dean snapped, impatient as always.

The door opened fully and Baby toddled out, a scowl on her face as she turned in place. The little black number fit like a second skin, with a cowl neckline and a hem that stopped barely halfway down her thighs. The back was practically nonexistent, with only a fold of fabric at her waist covering her tattooed plates, and long sleeves covered her arms. The only break in black were two shimmering silver lines that ran up the sides of the dress - like a car's pinstripes, Sam realized wryly. Her black shoes were strappy with silver buckles, the spike heels boosting her height by two inches and making her bare legs seem to go on forever.

Dean's eyes went wide as his jaw dropped so fast it almost clattered to the ground. His breathless "Whoa," sounded like he'd been gut-punched by a golem as his eyes took in every inch of Baby. When he caught Sam grinning at him, Dean scowled and jammed his hands in his pockets.

_Yeah, you're welcome,_ the younger Winchester smugly thought. Aloud he said, "You look awesome, Baby."

"I feel like someone put monster truck tires on me," was her terse reply. Her hands tugged at the short hem, vainly trying to pull the dress lower to cover more of her legs. "Can't I wear my boots at least?"

"Black-tie means fancy. Boots aren't fancy," he said with a hint of apology. A quick circle of her showed that everything fit well and nothing inappropriate was showing. "Good, the shoes fit."

"I can't walk in them."

"Then hang on to Dean's arm." Something felt off about Baby, but Sam couldn't quite figure out what. Reaching out to tussle her unbound hair, he suddenly noticed what was missing from the outfit. "Hey, where's the..." He tapped his throat significantly to indicate the amulet not hanging around her neck.

Pitching her voice lower, Baby replied, "Didn't want Dean to see it. He'd ask awkward questions."

"We gonna go now?" Dean interrupted, his voice radiating impatience of being nearly late. "Sam, you got the bomb?"

"Yup." Sam patted his chest over where the bottle was tucked in his inside pocket. "Ready to go."

"Then let's go." Dean his hand out to Baby. "C'mon Baby, wobble this way."

Baby scowled as she grasped his hand for balance. "Don't make fun of me, Dean," she warned as she slipped an arm around his. "Just because I can't walk doesn't mean I can't kick your ass."

Dean laughed. A serious, heartfelt, honest-to-God laugh. There was a soft smile on his face that Sam hadn't seen in many years, and it had everything to do with the beautiful young woman on his arm. Baby started laughing as well, leaning against him with a heartfelt smile that had Sam wishing there was some other way. Some other way to beat the witch and still keep Baby human.

Because for the first time in a long, long time, Dean looked like he was really and truly happy.

* * *

Baby felt the first tickle in her throat when they approached the showroom's doors. Clutching at Dean's arm, she raised a hand to cover the sudden coughing fit that made the Legos in her lungs rattle.

Dean immediately stopped walking. "Baby? What is it?"

"Noth - " Her reassurance was ruined by a short burst of black-colored smoke bursting from her mouth like an exorcised demon. The sight made the brothers' eyes widen in shock. "Um..."

"You should go back to the hotel," Sam offered. "We can do this without you - "

"No!" As bad as she felt, Baby had the feeling that if she didn't go with them, something would happen. Something even worse. "I'll be fine. Just...give me a sec."

Thankfully the next few coughs weren't smoky, and she was able to catch her breath as the trio entered the showroom. They separated for a few minutes to gather what little information they could. Dean chatted with new buyers, Sam spoke to one man who had shown up with a stunning older woman (whose age Baby could roughly ballpark as close to her own), and Baby spoke with her fellow cars, trying to be inconspicuous about her questions.

Regrouping by the refreshment table, the three compared notes. All the girls had confirmed that their first memories were of being readied in the building's basement for presentation, and Braxton was always there to supervise. Many of the solo men were here to bid on the newest batch of transformed girls, while the men who arrived with car-girls were there to possibly trade up.

When Sam said this, Dean wrapped his arm around Baby's waist. "You're sticking close to me tonight," he mumbled at her startled look.

"No argument here." She'd caught a few of the girls giving Dean the once-over. Their looks caused a slow burn to ignite in her body, a bitter and harsh taste on her tongue, and her hand to reach up behind his back to rest possessively on his shoulder.

That charming smirk appeared on Dean's face. "Looking a little jealous there, Baby. Worried about something?"

_Is that what this is? Jealousy? _Recalling how angry Rachel looked expressing it, Baby reached up to nervously touch her face. "Does it show? Do I look angry?"

"No, you look..." He seemed to search for a word before meeting her eyes and admitting, "Beautiful, actually."

Sam gave a low "psst!" to draw their attention to a knot of people across the room. Braxton was a pale-faced man with thinning blond hair and pouchy blue eyes, standing in the center of the group in a well-cut, overpriced suit. Rachel was hanging off his arm like a queen, wearing a sexy red dress that fit her like it was painted on. As soon as Braxton looked over the dizziness struck again, making Baby unsteady on her feet as nausea rose in the back of her throat. "It's him," she whispered. "The magic's coming from him."

"You sure?" asked Sam.

"I've felt this magic before. So yeah, I'm sure," Baby said dryly. She looked around. "We can't exactly Molotov the guy with the bomb. Too many witnesses to witness it."

"He's gotta go get the new girls. We can follow him down." Dean looked around and pointed with his chin. "Look. There he goes."

Sure enough, Braxton was heading down a hallway without Rachel. Making their way through the press of people, Dean, Sam, and Baby followed as closely as they dared until he turned a corner. They peeked around the corner and watched as Braxton unlocked a door and headed down a flight of stairs. Dean reached into his jacket and checked where his Colt was stuck in the waistband of his pants. "Wait until the girls come up, then we go in."

They didn't have to wait long. Ten minutes later, the door opened again and several flashily dressed women strutted out, heading back down the hallway. Braxton wasn't with them. Gesturing towards the door with two fingers, Dean led the way down the stairs. "Get ready," he murmured to Sam.

The taller man reached into his jacket and pulled out the bottle. "Got it." Checking to be sure the hallway was clear, Sam followed his brother as Baby brought up the rear, leaving the door open a crack to provide some light.

The brothers quickly ran down the steps, weapons drawn as they entered the basement. Only half-finished, the floor was rough concrete and the lighting was cheap, flickering florescent tubes. Rolling racks of clothes dominated the side walls, while the wall opposite the stairs had a line of well-lit mirrors and vanities. In the center of the room was a rectangular table covered in flowers, an open grimoire, and several metallic objects.

Sam lowered his weapon, frowning as he looked around. "Um, Braxton's not here."

Rolling his eyes at his brother, Dean shook his head. "Thanks, Captain Obvious."

"Where'd he gooo-AUGH!" Baby's question turned into a startled yelp as her foot slipped off a step, sending her bouncing down the stairs in an ungraceful tumble. She landed on her rear with a curse that would've impressed the most seasoned hunter.

"Baby!" Dean rushed over to kneel beside her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Wincing in pain, she stuck out her left foot and surveyed the broken heel. "Ugh. Screw it." She bent her knee to reach the foot and began fumbling with the straps.

Sam pointed at the center table. "Well, that looks like an altar. Maybe that can help us." Sticking his gun back in his waistband, he strode closer to investigate.

Dean waited until Sam was out of earshot before he whispered, "Hey, Baby?"

"Yeah?" She chuckled her broken shoe into the corner and fell to working on the other's buckles.

"After we waste this witch and you turn back into...well, you..." He licked his lips and hesitantly asked, "Could we...if there's a way, maybe we can, you know, turn you back?"

She looked at him curiously. "Back?"

"Yeah, you know, human."

Placing her bare feet on the concrete floor, she stood up and shifted her weight to make sure nothing was injured. "I'm not sure that's possible," Baby said, throwing the other heel aside. "But let's face it, the impossible tends to happen around you boys." She smiled up at Dean and quietly admitted, "I'd like that, actually."

"Guys?" The confusion in Sam's voice propelled Dean and Baby to join him. He was kneeling next to a lifeless form lying facedown behind the altar. When he turned the body over, the revealed face startled them. "It's Braxton."

"But we just saw him come down here," Dean objected.

Sam pressed a finger to Braxton's throat, shuddered, then rose to his feet. "He's ice-cold. Been dead for a long while."

"Wait..." Baby looked from brother to brother in bewilderment. "So who was the guy we followed down here?"

* * *

**Dun dun DUN! Plot twist!**

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	12. Gone Baby Gone

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"Wait..." Baby looked from brother to brother in bewilderment. "So who was the guy we followed down here?"_

* * *

The smell was masked by the flowers on the altar, but Dean still felt sick as he looked down at Braxton's corpse. Turning away, he took a closer look at the items on the altar. The metal pieces caught his eye. "Hey, these are spark plugs."

"From cars?" Sam asked, coming around to look for himself. He peered at the open pages of the grimoire. "This is written in Greek."

"So Braxton used Greek magic to turn cars human?" Baby asked, not following their train of thought. "Why?"

"For me." The hunters and Impala spun around to see Braxton walking down the steps with Rachel on his arm. "Ah, the famed Winchester brothers. Welcome," said the other Braxton. Rachel inclined her head slightly, blue-gray eyes flicking from his face to the Winchesters in anticipation of orders. "I see you've managed to find your way down here."

Quick looks were spared to the body behind them, but it was still there and very much dead. Dean stepped forward to shield Baby and drew his gun as Sam pulled out the witch-killing spell and his lighter. "You're not Braxton," Dean said, aiming for a headshot. "Who the hell are you?"

Braxton smiled as his features morphed into a completely different face - different, but not unfamiliar. "The one who directed his power," said the dark-haired younger man.

Baby gasped in shock. "Sebastian?"

"Hello, Paula." The way Sebastian purred that name pissed Dean off. He spread his arms to gesture to the basement. "Welcome to my body shop."

Sam took advantage of the opportunity. The chant flew from his lips as he lit the rag, and with a hard throw he pitched the bottle right at Sebastian's chest. Rachel screeched as ghostly white smoke enveloped the man, making him writhe and shudder and gasp - before banishing the smoke with a decisive swipe of his arms. Rachel dissolved into giggles as she helped pat out the smoldering embers on his jacket.

"You're not a witch?" Sam gaped.

Sebastian raised his hands and gave a series of deliberate claps. "Give the moose a merit badge," he announced sarcastically. "And this was one of my good suits. Damn." He raised his eyes and looked at Baby. "Would you please instill some manners in those apes?"

Dean heard Baby gasp again just before a small hand clamped the back of his neck and pushed, slamming him into the floor face-first with a yell. Blinking past the stars bursting in front of his eyes, he turned his head and saw that Sam was likewise down, pinned by a black-sleeved arm. Baby's arm.

"Dean, I-I'm not - " she stammered, her breath coming in short pants as she held them down. "My arms just moved on their own."

Sebastian came forward and chucked her chin with a proud smile. "That's my good Baby." Drawing his eyes back to the winded brothers, he chuckled. "You seem confused."

"What the hell did you do my Baby?" Dean gasped out.

"I gave her an upgrade." Sebastian reached into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out a spark plug like the dozens lying in front of the grimoire. "And I took a piece to get her back whenever I wished."

"You hotwired me?" Baby growled, her hands curling into fists as she tried to fight against his control. "You son of a bitch - "

"Let the grown-ups talk now, Baby," said Sebastian boredly, snapping his fingers.

It was like someone flipped a switch. Her arms dropped limply to her sides as she stood at attention like a doll in a glass case. All the emotion in Baby's face bled away, leaving behind a blankness that scared the absolute crap out of Dean.

"You - you were the mechanic," Sam puffed out, trying to catch his breath. "You switched spark plugs out of the cars and used them like remote controls."

"Smart boy." Palming Baby's spark plug, Sebastian returned to Rachel's side. "Normally that would give me the master key into her wiring, but your precious Baby is much tougher than any other car I've changed. I had to wonder, what could possibly have kept her from succumbing to my allure?" He dug his hand into his pocket, pulled a cord free to dangle from his fingertips. "But when I saw this, it all made sense. This talisman was imbued with enough of her love for you to resist giving me her true name."

The sight of his amulet made Dean's jaw drop in shock. "Where did - How did she - " He looked over to Sam, who wasn't fast enough to conceal the look of guilt on his face. _He's kept it all these years?_

"I really thought I would have to expand more magic to force her," Sebastian said. "But then I found out from someone else."

"Madeline," Sam realized. "You killed her?"

"Oh no, Rachel did. Frightfully jealous girl, my Rachel. Hates it when I spend time with anyone but her." The statement was laden with affection, as was the caress along the car-woman's arm. "And then imagine my surprise when Baby found me last night, brokenhearted and crying her eyes out, because her precious master had rejected her." The man's predatory smile could have put a crocodile to shame. "I must thank you for that, Dean Winchester. She would have never let me touch the amulet if she wasn't so confused." With a careless flick of his wrist, Sebastian tossed the necklace across the room. "Once I got close enough to take it off, it was easy for me to take control. I've had my finger in her brain since she returned to your grubby little motel room."

Dean was only paying attention to one word in five. His eyes were focused on Baby, trying to find his beloved Impala in the emotionless face. There was no spark of spunk that had dominated her gaze since she first appeared before the brothers. Now her eyes were cold as gunmetal and dull as a blunt knife. "You let her go right now, you dick."

"After all the effort I've taken to rewire her? Not a chance," Sebastian scoffed. "She's mine now. But I'll let you say your goodbyes, at least."

Tears poured down Baby's cheeks as she stumbled backwards into the altar, her emotionless face crumpling into a look of utter heartbreak. "Dean, Sammy, I swear I didn't mean it!" she started to sob. "He's forcing me to do this - " Sebastian snapped his fingers again and her face returned to its neutral expression.

"Baby!" Dean yelled, pushing himself up on his elbows.

"Rachel," said Sebastian, a wicked smile twisting his features. "Would you like a new toy to play with?"

The red-clad woman was beside Dean in a heartbeat, one hand gripping his thigh like a vise. "Aren't you a handsome one?" she purred. The fingers of her other hand started to stroke along his chest as a lascivious smile uncurled over her painted lips. "Bet you're fun when your engine's revved up." Rachel slowly turned to smirk at Baby, and the hand on Dean's chest lifted - to splay dangerously low on Sam's abdomen, pinning the younger Winchester. "You've got two pretty boys, old-timer. Mind if I take one for a spin?"

Baby's head turned to the side, glazed silver eyes landing on Rachel's hands. Jealous fire ignited in their depths, burning the cold indifference away and causing her body to tense up for a fight. "Hands off," she said in a dark voice, teeth bared in a silent snarl as the now-familiar sound of her revving engine filled the air.

Sam squirmed when Rachel's hand pressed down on his abdomen, bruising the skin and squashing his insides. Another rumble grew in volume beside him; Rachel was revving up as well. "Why don't you make me?" she challenged.

The two women lunged for each other at the same moment, colliding in midair with a loud crash and a screech like tearing metal. Rachel had more momentum, tackling Baby into the altar. Spark plugs and flowers flew everwhere as she scratched at the black-haired woman's face and neck. Baby managed to flip her over and slam a fist into her stomach. They wrestled like a pair of cats, snarling and punching and kicking away.

The Winchesters tried to get to their feet as well, but a small gesture from Sebastian telekinetically pinned them to the concrete floor again, faces turned so they could watch Rachel and Baby's fight. "Two women fighting to prove who desires you more. Isn't it exhilarating?" he asked, standing between the brothers.

"You're a sick bastard if making them fight over us gets your rocks off," Dean snarled.

"Making them? Oh no, I've done nothing." The blue-eyed man knelt down and smiled as if holding a juicy secret. "See, when inanimate objects gain a mind and a heart, naturally they will experience new feelings much stronger than normal humans do, and such a creature quickly learns which emotions feel worse than others. Jealousy...failure...heartbreak..."

_"__I feel __everything_, and it's too much!" echoed Baby's frustrated words in Dean's head.

"But when they feel desire..." Each word was spoken with almost diabolical precision. "Well, they'll do anything to keep that thing, that feeling, for themselves."

_Her reddened face was only a foot from his as she looked up with chrome-colored eyes that were drowning in desire._

A shout made the three men look back to where Rachel, hoisting Baby's body over her head like a weightlifting champion, threw the smaller car-woman against the far wall with a scream. "And they will kill to prevent any from taking the object of their desire."

* * *

Baby was still for almost a minute, catching her breath as her mind tried to think. There was so little strength left in her body that she could barely force her eyes open. Her scraped-up feet throbbed with a dull pain, looking like she'd tap-danced over a sheet of broken glass.

She knew she was losing. Her focus was split between resisting Sebastian's control and fighting Rachel, while the other car-woman had full control over her faculties and judgment.

Something glimmered in front of her, a speck of bronze among the crimson and emerald and onyx articles of clothing that were half-burying the Impala. A familiar speck of bronze. Her hand shot out to grab it before Sebastian could realize what she'd seen.

Touching the amulet was like touching a live wire. The magical bonds on Baby's soul crumpled like cheap metal, freeing her mind and body. Power seared through her veins and sang in her blood like the finest quality gasoline, her engine working double-time. She sucked in a breath and got to her hands and knees, shaking her head to clear the last remnants of Sebastian's control.

"Baby!" she heard Dean scream just before Sam yelled, "Look out!"

Her head snapped around to see Rachel lunging for her, a mad gleam in her steel eyes. Instinct made her reach for the small of her back, into the fold of fabric that concealed her plates. Her grasping fingertips latched around a handle, and she yanked the small knife out in time to bury it to the hilt in Rachel's chest. The woman's scream was ear-splitting, shattering the mirrors and lightbulbs lining the vanities, but she collapsed in a heap and stayed down.

"Oops," Baby said with a cynical grin. Forcing her battered body to rise, she turned to face Sebastian. "I think she's gonna need a tow truck." She reached for the small of her back and pulled out another knife, clasping the pendant in her closed fist as she advanced on the man who dared hold her boys captive.

The man snapped his fingers again, but nothing happened. The smile grew wider. "And it looks like your spare key is worthless. Now let them go, you sonofa - " Suddenly her entire body went limp, sending Baby sprawling on the concrete floor. Her knife went clattering across the ground as she felt everything inside her stutter to a halt. "What the hell? What did you do to me?"

Sebastian turned to Rachel and said, "Rachel, you'll have to stay here. There's not much time."

"I will wait," the red-clad woman promised.

Baby's eyes landed on him as he faced her again. "Shutting one of you down is always a regretful choice, but you're too dangerous to have uncontrolled." He knelt down and grasped Sam and Dean's collars. "But your boys will still be useful for my plans, Baby. Die with that knowledge in mind."

"No! Don't hurt them!" she screamed, fighting to make her limp body obey her frantic orders to move, to crawl, to save her boys. "Sam! Dean!"

But when she blinked her eyes, all three men were gone.

* * *

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	13. When An Angel Hears A Baby Cry

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"Sam! Dean!" But when she blinked her eyes, all three men were gone._

* * *

Despite her best attempts, ten minutes after Sebastian had gone, Baby was still struggling to move even one of her limbs. All she could do was breathe, blink, and turn her head, as useless as a marionette with cut strings.

Now that her head was clear, Baby could remember everything that happened the previous night. She'd let this happen by letting her guard down, and after witnessing countless hunts, she really should've known better...

* * *

_After bolting from Dean, Baby looked for a place to sit, gather her wits, and catch her breath. That was the bench she sat on now, singing softly to herself as she tried to stop the tears pouring out of her sore, puffy eyes._

**__****_Something's wrong, shut the light  
_****_Heavy thoughts tonight  
_****_And they aren't of Snow White_**

**__****____****_Dreams of war, dreams of lies  
_****_Dreams of dragon's fire  
_****_And of things that will bite, yeah_**

_She couldn't shake the feelings that coursed through her body as thickly as the whiskey she'd drunk. The memory of kissing Dean (more like attacking him, she admitted to herself) made her feel simultaneously excited and appalled at her behavior. And it hadn't been because of the alcohol in her body; like her Dean, she could hold her liquor like a champ. No, the sheer wanting that had blanked her rationale out...it was like someone had grabbed her wheel and taken her off-roading._

_It had to be a spell. Whoever changed her must've hexed her to act like that. __Pulling out Dean's amulet, Baby stared at the odd little brass head as she continued to sing to herself._

**_Sleep with one eye open  
Gripping your pillow tight_**

**_Exit light  
Enter night  
Take my hand  
We're off to never-never land_**

_Sure, Baby had thought about kissing Dean ever since she turned human. But she'd never considered acting on said fantasy. The fact that she had was not helping her nerves to settle._

_But then again, it was everything she'd ever imagined it to be. Her Dean was a phenomenal kisser, the feel of his lips against hers better than anything she'd ever felt before. Like the best gas was in her tank, the finest oil was in her engine, and she'd been freshly detailed inside and out. When he'd pressed her against the wall and deepened the kiss, she'd had the selfish wish that he'd never stop. She'd hoped that Castiel had been right, that Dean loved her, and that Dean would show her just how much he loved her._

_But instead, he pushed her away. He said what they were doing wasn't right. Nothing had ever hurt her more than that rejection._

_Skipping over the prayer part of the song for obvious reasons - Castiel really wasn't known for his consoling manner - Baby tried to use the next few words to calm her still-raging emotions._

**_Hush little baby, don't say a word  
_****_And never mind that noise you heard  
_****_It's just the beast under your bed  
_****_In your closet, in your head_**

_"Paula?" Baby jumped to her feet and spun to see Sebastian standing a few feet from her, his hands up in surrender. "Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you," he said in apology. "I thought I heard someone singing over here...was that Metallica?"_

_"Yeah," she said, hastily wiping away the tears from her cheeks as she sat again. "Helps calm me down. What are you doing out here?"_

_"I heard about Madeline." Sadness filled his eyes, and Baby quickly gestured for him to join her. "It's awful what happened. Guess I'm not the only one who thought a walk would clear their head." Concern quickly stole over his face. "You've been crying?"_

_"Just had a little too much to drink tonight," she explained, coughing to clear her throat. "Hitting me all at once." _

_"I see." She noticed his eyes drifting downward to rest on her throat. "That's a pretty pendant you have there."_

_"Huh?" With a shock she realized she was still rolling Dean's amulet in her fingers. "Oh, it's my owner's." _Or it once was, _she thought fairly._

_"Strange design," he remarked. "May I take a closer look?"_

_"Sure." She held out the amulet for his inspection. When he touched it, she felt a heavy coldness settle in her limbs. __Growing anxious, she tried to pull away from him, but her body wouldn't respond. She tried again, teeth gritting as she fought to move something, anything._

_"Now don't struggle." Sebastian's voice had lost its caring tone, becoming that of a master speaking to a disobedient servant. "You'll only hurt yourself__...__**Baby.**"_

* * *

Baby cursed as harshly as any seasoned hunter. She had to admit, Sebastian had played a good game, taking the amulet and sending her back with no memory of the incident and not realizing her treasure was gone. He'd waited until Sam and Dean were in his basement before he boosted her as easily as an experienced car thief. She'd been helpless to resist as he made her subdue Dean and Sam, and then he'd manipulated her jealousy and desire to fuel the decision to fight Rachel.

Staring at the ceiling in self-loathing, Baby let herself curse again. Her boys were in danger, and here she was, slowly dying on a concrete floor, utterly useless.

The panic flooded Baby as she flashed back all those years ago to The Accident. The abject _wrongness _as the semi plowed into her side, her frame crumpling like tinfoil, breaking her precious Winchesters and splashing her seats with blood. The dread that her broken, mangled husk would be abandoned, left to rot like all those other gutted heaps in Singer's Salvage. Bobby's long-ago assessment was still stark in her mind. _"...sell the rest for scrap...frame's a pretzel, engine's ruined...barely any parts worth salvaging..." _

It had taken many months before she recovered from that ordeal, and even longer for the fear to disappear. But now it returned, a thousand times more terrifying, because there was no Sammy to save her, no Dean to repair her, and nobody to tell her it was all going to be okay. She couldn't do anything - but call for help.

"Castiel, now I pray for you to hear - " She sucked in a breath and screamed, "GET YOUR FINE, FALLEN FEATHERED ASS DOWN HERE!"

The sound of flapping wings made Baby's eyes pop open to see the angel staring down at her in confusion. He looked from her to Rachel's body and back again, then knelt in front of Baby and propping her up against the fallen altar. "What happened here?"

"Sebastian, he - he hotwired me." Those damnable tears started up again, but Baby spoke past them. "He made me turn on Dean and Sam and fight that bitch, but when I broke free he shut me down and left me here to die."

"Die?" Castiel repeated, not following.

"Sebastian cut power to my engine - my heart. Muscles don't work and everything else is slowing down." It was getting harder to think and breathe, but Baby forced herself to keep going. "You gotta jump-start me."

"What?"

"That thing the humans do with cables when we don't start. A jolt of power straight to my engine."

Castiel's eyes widened in realization. He placed his hands over her heart as if to do CPR compressions. "I don't know if this will work."

"It has to. Do it." Baby gritted her teeth, squeezed her eyes shut and nodded her readiness. Taking a deep breath, Castiel closed his eyes. Holy power gathered in his palms, causing his fingers to glow as bright as headlights in the fog.

Angelic energy was nothing like what came through the jumper cables. This was like being struck by lightning several times in less than a second, the power making her body buck and spasm. Everything in her body felt like it was overheating, her fluids boiling in her veins and bones shuddering in their joints. A high-pitched screech escaped her throat, sounding almost like how her brakes protested when Dean did those painfully showy handbrake turns he was so fond of performing.

Then she felt her heart restarting and her muscles responded to her mind's commands. Castiel pulled away and stood up, letting the Impala climb to her feet under her own power. "Are you unharmed?" he asked.

"I've got some dings and scrapes, but it could've been a lot worse." She looked ruefully at her ruined dress and her bleeding feet. "Well, now we know why the dead girls' feet looked so bad."

"Dean and Sam?"

"Sebastian took them. Said they'd be useful in his plans."

"Do you know where?"

"No, but she probably does." Stretching her tingling limbs, Baby stepped over to where Rachel lay motionless and squatted beside the bleeding car-woman. "Tell me where Sebastian has my boys."

"No! You'll ruin everything!" Rachel looked up at her, desperation in her blue-gray eyes. "Those two boys are the key to keeping us this way forever!"

Her words scared Baby. "What's he going to do to Dean and Sammy?"

"Baby, please! Their souls will allow all of us to remain human!"

Baby felt her insides go colder than the depths of a Michigan winter. "He's gonna use their souls?" she whispered in horror. She had a fleeting knowledge of the lore, but even she knew the power held within a soul. "Where are they?" When she didn't respond, Baby grasped the knife in Rachel's heart and gave it a vicious wrench. "Tell me!" she demanded over Rachel's agonized screams.

"I don't know!"

"Bull. You've been locked to his side this whole time. You know everything there is to know about this operation." Another twist of the knife evoked fresh screams. "You tell me where they are, you flashy little tramp, and maybe the angel will fix you up. Lie to me and I'll yank this out and let your fluids drain slowly."

Judging from the fear in her eyes, Rachel believed her. She licked her lips as if to answer, and Baby leaned closer. But instead of words, a glob of spit hit her cheek. The smile that broke over Rachel's face was nothing short of malicious. "You'll never find them before he rips their souls from their bodies. He's a god, Baby, and he is powerful."

Rage made Baby vindictive. "If that were so, he'd stop me from doing this." With that she yanked the knife free of Rachel's heart, flinching when oily blood spattered her face, and wiped it off on her dress. "Think about that, tart."

Castiel watched Rachel die, his blue eyes dark with anger. "And now we have nothing."

"Not necessarily." Limping over to where the forgotten grimoire lay, Baby picked up the book and collected a handful of the flowers from amid broken vase shards. "You read Greek, Cas?"

"I can read all human languages."

"Then let's go back to the hotel," she said, one hand gripping the angel's trenchcoat as she leaned against his steady body, the grimoire tucked beneath her arm and the flowers tight in her other hand. "We've got work to do."

With a flutter of his coat, angel and Impala were gone before the guests investigated the screams.

* * *

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	14. Baby Get Your Guns

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_With a flutter of his coat, angel and Impala were gone before the guests investigated the screams._

* * *

The first thing Castiel did upon returning to the hotel room was to heal all of Baby's injuries from the fight with Rachel. She tore off her ruined dress and changed back into jeans, boots and leather jacket. Wearing one of Dean's t-shirts instead of her tanktop, the amulet hanging around her neck again, Baby had done the only thing she could - extracting every weapon and item she had stored in her trunk.

Castiel watched as Baby reached inside her jacket, pulled a sniper rifle, and laid it gently on the mattress. She hadn't spoken since they returned to the room, keeping her focus on pulling more items from seemingly nowhere. The entire episode in the basement had clearly scared her, and now she worked with almost mechanical precision, covering almost three-quarters of one bed with weapons and instruments used for hunting everything that went bump in the night.

"So, the Greek book of shadows telling you anything good?"

"Perhaps." Castiel flipped through the grimoire for pertinent information, his eyes flitting over the handwritten text. "This page holds an invocation to a being named Adonis. It calls him 'a youth blessed and beloved by Aphrodite'. Many of the spells call upon him to influence the desires of man." When her eyes narrowed in thought, Castiel asked, "Is it of import?"

"Maybe." Baby toyed with a ringlet of her hair as she spoke. "Sebastian talked about desire like he knew something about it. And after what Rachel called him...you think he could be this Adonis guy?"

"It is possible, but I do not recognize the name. He must not be a popular Greek figure."

"Any mention of how to kill him?"

Castiel shook his head. "None."

"So we have nothing."

"As of yet." The slump of her shoulders made the angel's face crease into a sympathetic expression. "We will find them, Baby. We have to have - "

"Faith? How? All we have to go on is that book you're still flipping through because we can't figure out how to use Sam's stupid machine." She gestured angrily at where Sam's laptop hummed away, the login screen demanding a password. "We can't even find the boys because those damn sigils you carved in their bones to make them angel-proof!" The words made her eyes widen, and apology appeared to replace the rage in them. "Dammit Cas, I didn't - "

"There is no need to apologize." The angel's eyes returned to the open grimoire. "Your anger is understandable."

"I'm not angry, I just - I don't know how to save them, Cas." The admission seemed to disturb her, and when Castiel looked up at her again, he could see the pain in her eyes as she gestured to the weapons around her. "I know every single gun, every stake, every knife, every book and blade and bullet in my trunk. Something here has to be the right thing to kill Sebastian, but I - I don't know which one."

"I can relate to your frustration," Castiel admitted, surprising them both with his words. "I can claim to be a hunter all I like, but I'm not. I have no 'people skills', I cannot operate Sam's portable computer...I'm just a wannabe who can't even crack a cat." Shame filled his eyes. "A baby in a dirty trenchcoat. Useless."

"No you're not. Far from it." When he gave her his classic confused-puppy-head-tilt, Baby smiled reassuringly. "You're a soldier and tactician, and you know a lot about getting people out of hellish places. That's your talent, and it's far from useless." She leaned over the table and rested a hand on his shoulder. "There's nobody else I'd rather want helping me plan a rescue."

"Thank you." The honestly of her statement gave Castiel a measure of comfort, and he wished to return the kindness. "For what it's worth, your fighting and weapon-storing abilities are also far from useless."

Now Baby looked taken aback. Removing her hand from his shoulder, she cleared her throat and stepped back to the beds. "Didn't realize I had so much junk in my trunk. We could stop the second apocalypse with this arsenal."

Understanding her need to change topics - Dean was the same way when they had what he called 'touchy-feely moments' - Castiel surveyed the neatly ordered lines of items on the twin beds, impressed at the sheer volume. "I was not aware that weapons were considered junk, or just how much is required for hunting. Though I doubt they could halt the apocalypse in any way."

"First off, 'junk in the trunk' is a phrase. Second, a lot of these are used more than others, but it's best to be prepared for anything," she replied fairly. Casting another look over the arsenal, Baby nodded in satisfaction. "Well, at least we're well-prepared to kill whatever the hell Sebastian is. Now all we have to do is find him."

"Which we shall," Castiel assured her.

"Damn straight."

* * *

When Sam regained consciousness, he found himself lying on the cold floor of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by no less than three dozen beautiful women dressed like they were about to go clubbing. Several of them were tittering and watching him with almost an almost hungry look in their steel-colored eyes.

"Ah, you woke up early." Sebastian walked into his sightline as the car-women shuffled back. Now that Sam was paying attention, the aura of smugness and divine power around him was unmistakable. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am called Adonis."

He knew the name, knew it hailed back to Greek mythology, but Sam couldn't focus enough to really be sure. His entire body hurt, like he'd been slammed against a couple dozen walls and dropped down a few flights of stairs. "Where's Dean?" he ground out, rolling onto his stomach as quickly as his protesting muscles would allow. "What did you do to my brother?"

Adonis pointed behind him. "Be at peace. He is there." Sam looked back and saw Dean chained to a stone altar that was set up like the one in the showroom basement. He was unconscious and there was blood on his chest, but no wounds to speak of.

"That is his new purpose. You, however, shall serve no such honor." Looking up at a car-girl Sam couldn't see, Adonis said, "I want the humans to have no doubts about his guilt. Make sure Baby is dead before you leave him there."

"Baby?" Sam suddenly remembered watching Baby collapse like an abandoned doll on the concrete floor, terror in her eyes and fear in her voice. He felt like a black hole opened in his body and sucked out all the warmth. "What did you do to Baby?"

"Oh, it won't be what I did to her." Malevolence twisted Adonis' handsome face into a gruesome smile. "Once the humans find you lying between two more murdered girls, it will be what _you_ did to her."

"You son of a bitch!" Anger surged through Sam's limbs, giving him a burst of strength for attack. He never got close; a psychic force slammed him face-first into the ground hard enough for blackness to eat away at the corners of his vision.

He heard Adonis say, "Finish tenderizing him, then take him. I want him there just in time to say goodbye."

* * *

Another coughing fit hit Baby half an hour after their last conversation. It was so severe that she doubled over with an arm wrapped around her midsection, one hand clamped over her mouth as more noxious smoke fought to escape her throat. Finding that way blocked, two black jets shot from her nostrils like a dragon's snort. Her curse was muffled behind her hand along with the coughs.

"I do not believe that is normal," Castiel remarked from his seat.

Baby rolled her eyes. "Great observation, Cas."

"Is that the first time?"

"No, and it's worse than the last one." Clearing her throat, Baby waited until the angel looked up from the grimoire. "What did you mean before?"

"By what?"

"When you poofed out of here before, you were mumbling about something being impossible, seeing instances of something only after centuries. Ringing any bells?"

Blue eyes widened in recollection. "Yes, of course. That."

Baby waited a breath, but when he didn't seem to want to explain, she impatiently said, "What did you mean by - what?"

"Someone is approaching," he said, head cocked to the side like a dog.

Now that she was paying attention, Baby could hear the sound of high heels clicking over asphalt. She rolled her eyes at Castiel, who pulled out his angel blade. "Cover me," she said as she blinked her headlights on and strode to the front door, gun in hand. Grabbing the door handle, she opened it wide and raised her weapon, glowing eyes raking the lot like searchlights. "Who's out there?"

"Baby, don't shoot! It's Rose!"

"Rose?" When her gaze landed on the red-haired Testarossa standing in the parking lot, then to the unconscious man Rose was supporting, she gasped. "Cas, she's got Sam!"

* * *

**What's this? Perhaps an ally?**

**Stay tuned for more, and drop a review on your way out please!**


	15. Making New Friends, Baby?

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_When her gaze landed on the unconscious man Rose was supporting, she gasped. "Cas, she's got Sam!"_

* * *

Dean had woken up in some very odd situations before, but this one really took the pie. He was chained to a stone altar in the center of what looked like a magic circle, surrounded by beautiful women who were running their fingers along his bound arms and bare chest, tittering and exchanging sultry looks with the captive Winchester. "Hands off, bitches," he snapped, shaking off their hands with clear disgust.

"Now I understand why other gods despise humanity," came Sebastian's bored voice from Dean's left. "Are all humans so disrespectful?"

Shaking his head to clear the last of his grogginess, Dean snorted in disbelief. "What are you the god of? Arrogant douchebags?"

"Again, manners. Your oafish brother didn't have them either."

_Sam? _Now that he looked around, Dean could see no sign of Sam. His green eyes glared at Adonis and demanded, "Where the hell's my brother, you dick?"

One dark-haired woman in green stepped forward and whalloped Dean across the face. "Don't speak to Adonis that way!"

"Tanya," called Sebastian - Adonis - in a gentle tone. "Enough." He waved the surrounding women away dismissively. "Go back outside and protect the warehouse until the ritual is completed."

Dean spat out a mouthful of blood as the car-women ambled out the door like skanky-dressed sheep. "Ritual? What ritual? What're you - " He looked down and saw unfamiliar symbols scrawled across his chest in what looked like blood. "What the hell are these?" Dean demanded, struggling against the chains vainly.

"Preparation for what is to come." From his bored tone, Adonis could've been talking about how to cook a simple dish. "When the moon reaches its zenith, I will extract your living soul from your mortal coil to fuel the spell that will turn my loves completely human."

"Really?" The elder Winchester couldn't help scoffing. "That's my fate? To be a glorified car battery?"

"Be honored." A tight note entered the god's voice, as if he was getting irritated again. "Very few mortal souls are capable of sustaining this type of spell."

"Dude, have you checked under the hood? My soul ain't exactly in mint condition. Thirty-odd years of craptastic pain, issues with authority figures, and all-around bullshit."

Adonis tut-tutted. "It is content, not condition, that I'm interested in."

"I doubt I've got what you're looking for," Dean said, recalling Famine's long-ago remark about being empty inside.

"I know you do." Adonis chuckled and leaned closer to clarify. "It's love."

Dean scoffed. "Come again?"

"Unconditional love that endures despite pain and loss." The way he spoke of pain and loss made Dean glance around once more for any sign of Sam. "Save your energy. I had my girls...discipline him...and take him back to the showroom basement." He plucked a nonexistent wrinkle from his cuff. "He'll wake up just in time to be arrested for your precious Baby's murder."

"Baby's - No. You're lying!" he yelled. He couldn't believe it. He _wouldn't _believe it. Because if it was true, and Baby really was gone, he'd never be able to tell her -

"Ah, and there it is." Adonis' smile was now wide enough to rival a crocodile's just before a zebra steps into its jaws. "That love will give my ritual the power to keep _my _loves human forever."

Anger and spite made him spit blood on the man's polished shoe. "Over my dead and broken body."

Adonis didn't even blink. "Again, condition is not an issue. You just have to be alive."

* * *

Baby cursed as she and Castiel gently took an unconscious Sam from Rose. There wasn't an inch of exposed skin that wasn't bloody, bruised, or broken, and one of Sam's eyes was swollen completely shut. His clothes were badly torn up and stained with more of his blood, and it was clear that more serious injuries hid beneath his denim and flannel coverings. Castiel's jaw was clenched, as if he was restraining himself from flying off and smiting those responsible, but he helped Baby lay the hunter on the sofa.

Sam's good eye fluttered open, the hazel iris glazed with pain as he registered her face. "Baby? You're okay?" he rasped.

"Sammy?" Baby cupped Sam's bruised face in her hands and brushed back a strand of hair from his bloody cheek, her smile full of pain. "I'm fine, Sammy, just fine."

His hand reached up to touch her face. "Adonis - he said you were - "

"And you believed him? I'm a tank, you know that," she said, cradling his hand to her cheek. "Now let Cas fix you up."

"Can't wait," Sam mumbled, squirming away from the angel's touch. "Baby, he's still got Dean. We gotta go get him - "

"Shhh Sammy, you gotta rest now." Castiel knelt down and pressed a hand to Sam's forehead. The younger Winchester fell into a deep sleep as his injuries mended themselves in an eye-blink. She held his limp hand in both of hers, insides burning at the amount of pain still on his face. "When I get a grip on whoever totalled you..."

"The other girls did that on Adonis' orders," Rose said from her place by the door.

The rage in Baby went white-hot at her words. Her eyes flashed to Rose's hands, but there were no signs that she had participated. "You resisted?"

"I didn't hit him, no. Had to fake it. Wasn't easy." Rose gave Baby a puzzled look. "How did your engine restart without Adonis' permission?"

Baby thumbed over her shoulder at Castiel. "He's better than AAA. Flushed Adonis' hotwiring clear out of me." Standing up, Baby faced the other woman suspiciously, gun raised again. "Why do you have my Sammy?"

"I was supposed to dump him in the showroom basement and frame him for yours and Rachel's deaths."

"So why didn't you?"

"Because...I didn't want to."

"Huh?" Baby lowered her weapon, puzzled at the statement.

"I..." The redhead couldn't meet Baby's eyes, a shameful expression on her beautiful face. "I've never been under Adonis' control." Rose raised her left arm to display a ring tied to a cord around her wrist. "It's my owner's ring."

"Your owner?" The way Rose looked away again told Baby a lot more than anything she could have denied. She touched the amulet, her own piece of Dean. "He's to you what my Dean is to me."

"Yes. My Jack..." A soft smile transformed Rose's features with love. "Adonis doesn't know about our bond."

"Wha - " Another coughing fit struck Baby, and bursts of black smoke shot from her mouth and burned her eyes. "Sonofabitch!" she choked. "You gotta be friggin' _kidding_ me. Again?"

"Oh no." She looked up to see Rose paling in horror. "It's starting."

"You know why this is happening to me?" the Impala asked, trying to regain her breath. "What is it?"

"You're breaking down from the inside. It happened to the other girls before they died." The Testarossa gave her such a pitying look that Baby's stomach felt hollow. "It means that your owner's love for you is gone."

"Impossible." This came from Castiel, who stepped forward and rested his hand on the back of Baby's neck. "Dean has loved her for years. There is no way he would stop now." His grip tightened slightly, as if he was attempting to reassure Baby as well as convince Rose. "There must be another explanation."

"And why my Dean?" Baby demanded. "Of all the men who desire us, why would Adonis need my Dean's soul?"

"Because he loves you." When Baby frowned in confusion, Rose shook her head. "We were transformed with magic based in desire, but we're not living long enough on desire alone. He needs the soul of a man who loves one of us to cement the magic for _all_ of us." The redhead's eyes lit up with realization. "That could explain why your breakdown is accelerating. Adonis must be preparing the ritual now."

_Which means we're running out of time, _Baby thought. An internal engine check showed that Rose's words held merit; her inner workings were starting to hiccup and shudder, several parts grinding together in a painful way. While it didn't impede her now, Baby knew it wouldn't be long before she would be unable to move without an enormous amount of pain. The Impala turned to look at Sam's sleeping form and asked Rose, "Where is he keeping my Dean?"

"At the showroom's storage warehouse near the outskirts of town, where the altar for the ritual is. He's waiting for the moon to reach its zenith."

"Why should we believe you?" asked Castiel curtly. "You are the reason why Dean is in danger."

Rose stiffened at the accusation. "That's not my fault. I had to protect my Jack - "

"Enough," Baby sighed, tired of the pointless argument. She could understand Rose's reasons, but her actions had indirectly led to her Dean being captured. The injustice made her short with the other woman. "Go back to your Jack and enjoy the little time you have left. Your humanity won't last the night."

The way she said it made Rose shiver nervously. "What are you going to do?"

"Do?" The glare Baby gave her was colder than liquid nitrogen. "I'm gonna slam that pagan bastard harder than a fifty-car pileup at rush hour. Then I'll run him over until he's roadkill. And _then _I'll make him regret ever touching my boys."

* * *

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	16. Lock and Load, Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"I'm gonna slam that pagan bastard harder than a fifty-car pileup at rush hour. Then I'll run him over until he's roadkill. And __**then** _I'll make him regret ever touching my boys."

* * *

When Sam woke up on a sofa instead of a concrete floor, he sat straight up and was momentarily disoriented when he noticed that all the injuries he'd suffered were healed. The last thing he clearly remembered was Adonis instructing a car-woman to take him to the showroom and frame him -

_For murder. Baby's murder._

_Baby was -_

"Sammy?"

His head snapped to the side and saw Baby kneeling beside him, alive and well. His confusion and fears evaporated as he wrapped his arms around her, immersing himself in her familiar aged-leather-fresh-air smell. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you," he said roughly.

Judging from how tightly she returned the embrace, she was obviously just as relieved. "I've got a good notion."

"How did you restart? Adonis said - "

Baby jerked her head to the side to indicate Castiel standing beside her. "Cas gave me a jump and reset my engine. But let's save the Twenty Questions for later, okay?" She quickly filled him in on Rose's change of heart as she directed him to his computer and look up the legend of Adonis.

Ten minutes later, he looked up from the screen to see Baby slipping weapons in her pockets and jacket. "So Adonis is the Greek god of beauty and desire," he reported. "Braxton probably summoned him to influence potential customers into desiring the cars enough to buy them. Then Adonis must've killed Braxton and assumed his identity."

"But then why start changing cars into girls? Doesn't make sense." Baby frowned as she twirled a knife between her fingers before sliding it into her boot. "What's the lore on this guy?"

"Fairly standard Greek tragedy crap, really," Sam shrugged as he browsed. "He was a mortal who caught the eye of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. She kept him as a lover, but a couple other gods were said to have him killed because they had issues with Aphrodite."

"A couple other gods?" Castiel repeated, curiosity present in the tiny furrow of his eyebrows.

"Depends on the version, but there's one thing in common - how he got whacked. A wild boar hooked him in the groin and he bled out."

"Ouch," Baby deadpanned as she jammed the last of the weapons inside her jacket. "So, we're thinking a stake dipped in boar's blood or a boar's tusk should do the trick, right?" Silver eyes glanced to Castiel, who disappeared amid the sound of flapping wings. Plopping on the now-cleared beds, Baby pulled out a handful of bullets and started slotting them into the clip of Dean's Colt. "I've seen enough to know how to work most everything in my trunk," she said at Sam's impressed look.

"I can see that."

"What about the dead plants I pinched?"

"According to legend, Aphrodite mixed his blood with nectar and up sprang the anemone, which is what these are," Sam said, picking up one of the withered blooms. "All the spells in the book call for them, including the one Adonis is going to be using tonight." Closing his laptop, Sam turned in his chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked at the Impala. "Hey, Baby? What happened after we left?"

Her hands stilled as her eyes went curiously flat, almost as lifeless as they'd looked while under Adonis' control. "I told you already."

"Not everything. What happened to Rachel?"

"I offered to patch her up, but she refused to give up where you and Dean were being held." Picking up the loaded clip, she slid it into the stock and pulled the slide back, clicking a bullet into the chamber. "So I cut her fluid lines and let her bleed out."

The clinical way she spoke chilled Sam to the point that he couldn't look at her, averting his eyes to stare at his computer. Deaths on the job didn't bother him as much as they once had, but the thought of Baby so coldly ending another being's life of her own volition...The hunter licked his lips before meeting her eyes again. "You sure you're okay?"

Baby rolled her eyes. "I'm getting _real_ sick of people asking me that."

"So are you?"

"Never said I was." Setting down the ivory-handled gun, Baby met Sam's gaze squarely. "Look, can't cry over spilled fuel after a match lights it. I fucked up and you and Dean paid for it. I gotta accept this fact and move on." She licked her lips and added, "Besides, there's no way I'm letting you go out there without me."

Further arguments were silenced by Castiel's reappearance. "I went to Greece and slew the largest wild boar," he reported, placing a jar of blood, a pair of short tusks, and a handful of short branches on the table. "The branches are from a myrrh tree in the same region."

"Excellent. Here." She whipped out a combat blade and flipped it in her hand to offer it hilt-first to Sam. "You two start sharpening stakes and hammer out our gameplan. I'll find us a ride out."

Sam had to ask. "You're gonna steal a car?"

"Nah, I'm gonna bippity-boppity-boo one out of a squash," was her dry reply.

Castiel's tilted head and puzzled expression was followed by his stating, "I do not think your transformation granted you the power of reality warping."

"That was another joke, Cas." Baby shucked off her jacket and left it draped over a chair. "And I'm driving cuz I call it."

"Isn't that kind of redundant? You driving?" Sam asked, staring when he saw no sign of the trunkload of weapons she'd just concealed.

She put her hands on her hips as if daring him to argue, but her lips were twitching with mirth. "I'm the car, so of course I'm driving. You got a problem with it, you can walk."

"Seriously?" he scoffed in disbelief, but his own smile was pure amusement. "You'd make me walk to my own brother's rescue?"

"You've got two legs and a heartbeat, Running Man. What's the issue?"

Castiel cleared his throat. "I believe you are forgetting that I can merely teleport us to the warehouse," he interjected. "There is no need to commit car theft."

Baby burst out in a peal of laughter, clapping a hand on the angel's back. "You really need to learn when somebody's teasing you."

* * *

Getting walloped by Adonis was slightly less embarrassing than being walloped by a Leshii posing as Paris Hilton. At least back then he'd been able to fight back. But here, chained to the stone altar and utterly unable to defend himself, Dean could only take the abuse and ride it out.

Finally the beating ceased and Adonis drew back. Dean coughed up blood as he watched the god wipe his knuckles clean on a rag. "What, gettin' bored princess?" he joked. "That barely tickled."

A blatant lie, but bravado was all he had at the moment. Adonis had no idea of how to properly inflict pain using the least amount of damage, and Dean couldn't feel most of his extremities anymore. Blood loss was already making his vision blur and his body go numb. If the god didn't heal his internal injuries soon, Adonis wouldn't have a living soul for his ritual very much longer.

"You're tougher than most humans I've encountered. A very hard man to break." He sounded almost petulant, like a child who found a math problem more difficult than usual. "Well, I do love a challenge. Probably why I decided to press on even when Baby's advance failed."

Dean started at this admission, remembering their guessing why she'd drunkenly kissed him outside the bar. "Say what?"

"Who would've thought that it would take so much magic to force Baby to act on her wants? And then for you to break free of the hex and bring her out with you..." Adonis shook his head in disbelief, as if he were jealous of what the hunter had. "That's powerful love, Winchester. That love is what I need my girls to feel. That's the love _I _want."

"What d'you - " Dean was suddenly lightheaded, and it wasn't because of blood loss. A drowsy feeling stole over his body like the lapping water of a rising ocean tide. His eyelids felt like they were a hundred pounds each, fluttering as he fought to keep them open.

"Do you wonder why I chose to transform cars into women?" Adonis asked, his voice sounding like it echoed through an enormous cavern. Dean saw him pick up one of the flowers on the altar and rubbing the stem between his fingers to send the blossom spinning. "I once was desired by a goddess. But after I was cut down by those seeking revenge against her, my goddess forgot about me. She moved on." His hand clenched around the blossom and crushed the petals mercilessly. "She tore my heart apart more painfully than that boar's tusks tore at my flesh."

Dean tried to quip about how chowing down tubs of Ben and Jerry's usually soothed broken hearts, but whatever Adonis was doing really messed with his head. Everything was fuzzy, like breathing through a layer of gauze, and his eyes couldn't focus correctly...

"But my loves depend on me. They love me because I have given them far more than what mere humans are capable." Adonis turned his dark head, and through the gloom and moonlight Dean caught a glimpse of his inhuman eyes, twin pools of molten quicksilver that burned with centuries of rage. "Once I make my loves human, they'll love me forever. I will never be forgotten or unloved again. And for that, I need your soul."

Despite the languid feeling in his body, Dean managed to snarl, "You want it, you'll have to take it by force."

"Foolish human. You're going to give it to me."

"Yeah? How'd you figure?" The air suddenly smelled sickly sweet, like his face was buried in a pile of flowers. He coughed and choked on the smell, feeling drunk enough to see a Shojo...And suddenly Baby was standing in front of him. "What the...Baby?"

The look on her face so puzzled but so relieved to see him. "Dean? What are you doing chained up like a - " A short blade suddenly burst from her midsection, cutting her off with a squelching choke. A mixture of air and blood frothed at her lips, and she dropped to her knees to reveal Adonis standing behind her, his hand clenched around the short sword's hilt.

"Baby!" Dean struggled against his chains, trying to reach for her as she bled out mere inches from his tethered grasp. "Baby, no!"

"Give me your soul," Adonis said, "and I'll save her."

"NO!"

"Dean!" The sound of her voice made his head whip to the left where she stood alive and well. "Dean, hold on! I'm coming!" The words were barely out of her lips before Adonis materialized next to her and impaled her with his blade. Baby went down with an ear-splitting scream and writhed as her blood poured from her body.

"Give me your soul," Adonis demanded without changing expression. Baby reappeared again - just in time for Adonis to kill her once again.

"You bastard! Stop it!" screamed Dean. Tears poured from his eyes. "Please!"

"You know how to make it stop." A cruel smile adorned the god's face as Dean's screams pierced the night. _It won't be long now. Another ten illusions' deaths and__ he'll be begging me to end his suffering_.

* * *

**Stick around, because next up is the rescue!**

**Review if you please!**


	17. Baby's Fashionably Late Arrival

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_A cruel smile adorned the god's face as Dean's screams pierced the night. ****__It won't be long now. Another ten illusions' deaths and__ he'll be begging me to end his suffering_.

* * *

"I don't like this," Baby remarked.

Sam quietly agreed with her. The storage building was about six miles from the showroom and completely isolated, sitting forlornly in the middle of a large slab of worn-out asphalt. No less than thirty car-women were outside the building, dressed to the nines and armed with small guns. The entire setting felt like something out of a bad movie, right down to Sam, Baby, and Castiel peeking around the side of the abandoned guardhouse like the outnumbered, outgunned heroes they were.

"Dean is inside," Castiel reported, blue eyes staring intently at the dilapidated building. "Only Adonis is with him."

"Everyone must be on the perimeter until the ritual is completed," Sam said as he checked his handgun. "Okay, you two poof inside and get Dean. I'll create a diversion - " He was suddenly cut off by an anguished scream - a scream he recognized his brother's. His blood froze in his veins when Baby's name rang out in the night. "What the hell? Cas?" he demanded, looking at the angel for an explanation.

Castiel's gravelly voice deepened even more, rumbling like a rockslide. "Adonis is creating an illusion. He is - he is killing Baby over and over again in front of Dean."

Baby's eyes hardened in seconds. "Sam, you go with Cas. I'll be the diversion."

"No, Baby," Sam was quick to disagree. "If he's being tortured, you should be the one to - "

She shook her head. "Sammy, you may be the size of a moose and I love you dearly, but you're human. Those are large cars squashed into compact little human bodies. Trust me when I say if one really hits you, she won't just break a few bones, she'll liquify your insides." She pointed to herself. "Now me? I can handle sideswipes and head-on collisions better than you. Besides, if any of the Hot Wheel Barbies get inside while we're rescuing Dean, it'll just be a pain in the ass." Pulling a shotgun out of her back pocket (_What is she, one of Dean's anime characters?_ Sam thought), slotted shells in both barrels and handed it to Castiel. "Can you handle this?"

"I am more proficient with blades, but I can make do." The angel took the weapon from her and expertly pumped the slide. "What about you?"

"Don't worry, I'm fully loaded with all sorts of goodies." Baby playfully slapped her rump before looking to Sam. "Got the ganking goods?" The younger Winchester pulled out two blood-dipped stakes and a short tusk from his pockets and handed them over for her to pocket. Cracking her neck to the side, Baby stepped onto the tarmac and shook out her hands as if preparing to play a piano. Sam almost stepped out with her, but Castiel's hand on his elbow held him back.

"Let her be, Sam. We do not want to be caught in this battle." To Baby he advised, "Aim for their hearts. Or something equally vital."

"With pleasure." Baby waited until they disappeared before facing the women. It killed her to not race to Dean's side, but she had to be practical. She was the only one able to give and take enough damage to put down Adonis' convoy of car-girls, and the last thing they needed was one of the women providing backup to the god. They'd have enough trouble with Adonis as it was.

And there was another, simpler reason for her staying out here. Pure, old-fashioned payback for Sam's injuries at their hands.

Inhaling a lungful of air, Baby cupped her hands around her mouth and bellowed, "Hey you gas-guzzling POS clunkers!" Every head whipped around to see the black-clad Impala cackle as she crowed, "This is where all the soccer-mom vans park, right?"

The insult barely echoed in the air before thirty high-performance engines roared to life. Her reckless smile widened as Baby yanked out two handguns and cocked the hammers with her thumbs, her own revving engine joining the din. "Let's tear it up!" she challenged before shooting across the lot at the thirty angry car-women bringing their guns to bear.

* * *

Halfway through impaling the hundredth Baby illusion, Adonis cocked his head to the side. "Sounds like we're about to have company."

Throat sore from screaming himself hoarse, Dean didn't have it in him to shoot back a witty retort. Watching his precious Baby being killed dozens of times had driven him nearly mad with grief. The bodies were still lying across the warehouse floor like so many broken toys, blood streaked and pooling across the concrete, air heavy with the stench of coppery blood and those damn sickly-sweet flowers -

"Dean!" The sound of flapping wings made his head turn to see Sam and Castiel standing on the other side of the magic circle. "Dean? You good?" Sam demanded.

Dean couldn't help the sigh of relief he released at seeing the angel next to his brother. His recent absence had been inconvenient, but he sure was a sight for sore, half-swollen eyes. "I'm alive," he replied as clearly as his tortured voice allowed. "Took you long enough to get here."

"Damn. And he was so close to giving me what I want..." Adonis scowled at Sam and Castiel. "Am I to assume you two idiots are supposed to be the heroic rescue squad?"

"Correct. Now release Dean," Castiel ordered coldly. "Or we shall force you."

"Oh?" Adonis tilted his head to peer behind them. "You and what army, fledgling?"

Lifting one eyebrow impishly, Sam flashed a cheeky smile as the sound of a voice came from outside. The tone was clearly confrontational, but the only words they could discern was, "gas-guzzling POS clunkers." Adonis' eyes lit up with amused interest. "Ah, and that would be your reinforcements, I presume," he said when a series of revving engines sounded off one after another.

Dean was about to demand who was outside, but the words died in his throat when another engine roared to life. He knew the sound of that engine anywhere, but he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not after the hundred Babys he'd just seen and heard die -

A surge of power seared the stifling aroma of flowers and blood away, replacing it with the more familiar smell of burned feathers and ozone. The smell of an angel unleashing his Grace. The dead bodies suddenly evaporated like mist in the morning, leaving the floor as unmarked as it had been before. "They're not real, Dean," Castiel said, his shotgun aimed at Adonis' head. "Baby was never here. He decieved you."

The sound of gunfire erupted outside, and that's when Adonis made his first move. The guns were yanked from Sam and Castiel's hands before they could squeeze off a single shot and sent flying. Castiel quickly teleported out of sight, but so did Adonis. They reappeared two feet from Dean's feet, the angel doubled over Adonis' fist as blood sprayed from his mouth. The god's elbow came up and slammed into Castiel's back, driving him face-first into the ground hard enough to form a crater.

By this time, Sam had managed to get around to Adonis' back under cover of gunfire and squealing brakes from the fighting cars outside, a blood-tipped stake in hand. He drew his arm back to plunge it into the god's back, but a psychic force rammed into his chest and sent the tall Winchester skidding across the floor.

"Amateurs. Trying to sneak up on a hunter." Adonis spread one hand and lowered the palm in a squashing motion. Sam and Castiel gave strangled gasps as invisible blocks of pressure bore down on their bodies. "Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise," mused the god as he regarded his captives. "Instead of just one soul, I now have two and the Grace of an angel. This should give my spell more than enough power."

Dean weakly tried to reach his brother or Castiel, but the chains were too short and his body too battered to be of any help. Gasping for air as he leaned against the altar, he panted, "What the hell kind of rescue is this?"

"We're trying, Dean," Castiel grunted as he struggled against the force pinning him down.

"Yeah, and doing a bang-up job there, Cas." Turning his head to face Sam, Dean snarled, "And you? What's your excuse for going full stupid this time?"

"You'd rather be the new All-Spark for thirty Decepticons?"

"No, but you could've been a little more subtle about ganking him."

"Had to make a dramatic entrance." His little brother gave a shit-eating grin. "You don't get kidnapped all that often, so I gotta savor the moment."

Dean chuckled. "Bitch."

"Jerk."

"Silence." Adonis flexed his fingers, and all three men groaned at the increasing pressure to their chests. "Enough of this. The moon is almost in alignment, Dean Winchester. What is your - What the?" he demanded just as there was a sudden increase of gunfire outside, followed by the screech of several brakes and a terrific crash. Then, for the first time in almost ten minutes, there was absolute silence. Adonis looked around, face showing confusion and worry. "What's happened?"

"Honest opinion?" Sam quipped. "I'd say it's the very pissed and heavily armed '67 Impala we left double-parked and idling outside. She wanted to play with the other girls before coming in."

"Baby?" Dean struggled to sit up straighter, hope seeping through him like a warm shot of whiskey. "She's really out there?"

The doors flew open with a bang, and eyes went to the figure standing in the doorway like an avenging angel. Sam's face looked ready to split in two from how big his smile was. "Speak of the devil."

With one look, Dean knew knew instantly that this was his Baby. The others had been mere shadows, poorly constructed facsimiles of the beautiful kickass woman now standing before him. Holding what looked like Dean's Purgatory blade in one hand and a shotgun in the other, her windblown hair stuck out like a dark halo around her face. Her clothes bore fresh rips and tears and were spattered in dark blood, and it wasn't hard to imagine her hidden eyes were blazing with fire. When she spoke, Dean's heart swelled with joy at the sound of her voice.

"Hey, I'm here for my three boys. One's got green eyes and a real smart-alec attitude, another's freakishly tall with fluffy hair, and one's a blue-eyed baby in a trenchcoat. You seen 'em?"

* * *

**Heeeeeeeeere's Baby!**

**Please drop a review on your way out! It's always nice to hear what you have to say!**


	18. Hey God! It's Me, Baby

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"Hey, I'm here for my three boys. One's got green eyes and a real smart-alec attitude, another's freakishly tall with fluffy hair, and one's a blue-eyed baby in a trenchcoat. You seen 'em?"_

* * *

"You certainly know how to announce yourself, Baby," Adonis patronizingly remarked as Baby swiped Dean's blade clean of blood on her jeans before sheathing it down the back of her jacket. Pumping the slide of her shotgun, Baby aimed low as she took long, easy strides inside the warehouse. The Winchesters instinctively flinched, but Adonis merely laughed. "And ballsy, just like your owner."

"You want ballsy? Try this: Let my boys go, or I'll empty both barrels in _your_ boys."

"Seriously?" Dean hissed through gritted teeth, his legs drawn up to protect his own crotch. "Who the hell threatens to take out the crown jewels?"

Sam chuckled through his grimace. "Your Baby, that's who."

Adonis indicated Castiel with a careless wave of his hand. "You include him as one of your boys? He isn't human."

"No, but he's family all the same." Her eyes flitted to where Sam and Castiel were pinned, noting that they had no serious injuries with a exasperated snort before turning her gaze to Dean. Her eyes widened slightly at how bloody he was, silently asking if he was all right. He gave a cocky grin to reassure her, and his heart swelled when a barely audible sigh slipped through her relieved smile.

Adonis' expression quickly turned conceited. "Looks like you had more than a little fun with my lovelies." His words made Dean look closer at the damage to Baby's clothes. There was blood caked on her jacket, bullet holes riddling her jeans and sleeves, and more blood on the gray T-shirt she wore. _That's a lot of blood, _he thought with worry. _Please don't let it be all hers._

"Well, we did go from zero to NASCAR in about five seconds," Baby stated. "Playing high-speed chicken is tough enough, but add guns to the road rally and it really starts getting wild." Her lips pulled back into a bloodthirsty smile. "Gotta say, your girls got tinfoil nerves and suck at shooting. Me on the other hand? Not so much."

Adonis donned his own cruel smile. "Perhaps you underestimate them."

Dean saw another figure stumble through the doors behind Baby and yelled, "Baby, behind you!" She quickly spun around and emptied both barrels of her shotgun into the other woman's gut. The other car-woman doubled over but still managed to raise a gun and fire. Blood exploded from the Impala as she was knocked off her feet with a scream, falling face-first to the ground like so much dead weight.

Dean's breath froze as she crumpled in a heap. He smelled coppery blood amid the lingering hints of burned feathers, all he could do was stare in horror and think, _Please be another illusion, please be another illusion, please don't be dead..._

"Baby!" Sam screamed. His hand stretched out pathetically towards the unmoving form, while Castiel was likewise struggling against Adonis' hold to get to Baby's side.

"Then again..." Adonis' lips pulled even wider apart. "Perhaps you should've made sure all of them were dead. Eh, Tanya?"

"Did you see that, Adonis? Did you see?" Tanya gasped, voice charged with excitement as she hobbled inside. Dean recognized her as the green-clad woman who'd backhanded him earlier. Blood flowed from her gut wound and stained her green power suit, but the light in her eyes was fervent. The gun dropped from her hand as she reached out to clutch his sleeve like a greedy child demanding attention. "I shot that bitch dead!"

Those words broke through Dean's stupor. "NO!" he yelled, straining against his chains so hard he almost dislocated his wrists. "Baby, get up! Get up, please!" But the girl didn't move.

"Enough." Adonis made a motion and Dean choked in pain, feeling his bruised ribs crack from the pressure against his chest. "She is dead. Accept it and - "

"Don't...kill me off just yet."

Adonis and Tanya spun around, their smiles melting like cheap plastic as they watched Baby struggle to turn over. Sam laughed in relief at the same time Castiel called out, "Are you all right, Baby?"

"I got shot, Cas. What d'you think?" asked Baby rhetorically. She clutched her freshly-bleeding right shoulder and scowled at the blood welling through her fingers. "Son of a bitch. Another bullet hole in my paint job, but I'll live."

_Thank God,_ Dean thought, closing his eyes in sheer relief._ Thank God._

"Impossible!" Tanya exclaimed. "I shot you!"

"In the shoulder, sweetheart." Baby used her right elbow to prop herself up and pulled out Dean's ivory-gripped Colt with her left hand. "Want someone dead? Aim for the heart or head."

Tanya's eyes grew crazed with rage. "Why won't you die already!?" she screeched, lunging for the prone Impala.

"And now you run towards a gun? Idjit." Baby didn't even blink as she double-tapped Tanya between the eyes. The other woman dropped in mid-leap and didn't move. "You wouldn't last one day in the family business." She slowly clambered to her feet, tucking her arm around her bloodstained stomach with a wince. Her eyelids suddenly fluttered as she shuddered violently. Dean thought she was going to collapse, but she quickly steadied herself and brought her gun to bear on the god. "By the way...don't expect another high-heeled Hyundai to stroll through those doors. I put down everyone outside with a bullet to the heart or a blade through the neck."

Dean proudly snickered at Adonis. "I knew your Decepticon bitches couldn't ice my Bumblebee Baby."

A flash of pain crossed the god's face before he regained his pompous smirk. "Baby, let's talk about this..." He started to step forward, but a shot to the ground in front of his expensive shoes stopped him cold. His hands rose to pacify. "Aren't you happy this way?"

"Oh suuuuuure," Baby drawled sarcastically. "What's there not to enjoy? I cage-fight with Rachel, I go Fast Five on your bitch brigade, I feel like I'm about to cough up a muffler - geez, I'd hate to see what happens to the cars who aren't happy. Oh wait." Her mouth formed an O as she appeared to have an epiphany. "I have. They're lying in the Valence morgue."

Adonis started to raise his hands, but Castiel suddenly shouted something in Enochian. A tongue of fire burst to life on Adonis' sleeve before he could defend or redirect. He yelled in shock and hurriedly patted out the flames.

"He's distracted!" Dean yelled. _Yeah right._ _Like going pyro on his suit is really gonna make him screech to a stop._ "Take 'im down, Baby!"

* * *

While Dean's encouraging shout boosted her self-confidence, Baby had a realistic understanding of her present situation. Sure, she'd taken down the thirty car-women outside with limited difficulty, but the cost had been high. She'd burned through most of her fuel and almost every loaded weapon in her trunk. Plus, she'd only beaten her fellow cars because they had been overtaken with anger and God-awful shots to boot. Adonis was completely in control of his emotions, fully rested, and packing some serious magical powers. This fight would not be as easy a win as her last battle.

_Then again, I am a Winchester,_ she thought dryly as she ejected her empty magazine, yanked out and loaded another full clip, and trained the weapon on Adonis. _Gods forbid we should actually catch a break_. "Let's dance, assbutt," she challenged the still-smouldering god, her grin turning reckless. "Catch me if you can."

Adonis raised his hand to cast another spell, but Baby was already in motion. Her engine revved as loud as thunder as she shot across the floor, opening fire on Adonis. The god teleported just as quickly out of harm's way and paused again to cast a spell. But since Baby was moving as fast as fast as if she had flipped a nitro switch, he didn't have time to finish before needing to dodge another rain of bullets.

None of this was helping slow the rate of deterioration to her insides. Quite the opposite, in fact. Her muscles trembled violently from the pain radiating from her core in alternating waves of white-hot and ice-cold, and her bones creaked like ill-kept axles. She was moving at a little over half her normal speed and only losing energy, her body protesting every dodge and drift.

From the calculatingly smug look on his face, Adonis clearly noticed her difficulty. "You're not running on all cylinders, are you Baby?"

Angry at his words, Baby screeched to a crouching halt and steadied her trembling arm to take another shot. It winged his shoulder and brought a smile to her face. "Still got enough horsepower to kick your - "

A force slammed into her, driving the air from her lungs and knocking Baby off her feet. Her tumble was halted by her back hitting the warehouse wall with a dull _whump_. Stars burst behind her eyes as she frantically tightened her grip on her gun. If she lost it, she would really be in trouble.

A foot stomped down on her wrist, making Baby scream in pain as the pressure ground into the bones. "Hard to go full throttle when your innards are breaking apart," Adonis chuckled darkly, yanking the Colt away and casting it aside.

Her lungs were burning with a now-familiar ache. "Don't haul me off to the junkyard just yet." Baby purposefully coughed black smoke into Adonis' eyes and tried to yank out the blood-dipped stake from her pocket.

The smoke didn't even slow him down as he plucked the stake from her fingers. "Myrrh branch dipped in boar's blood? Someone's done their homework." Crimson flame turned the weapon to ash and released a cloud of bitter perfume that made his nose wrinkle in disgust. His hand trapped her other wrist to keep her from digging out another weapon. Baby kicked out with her legs, but he took her abuse without flinching. "I don't understand. Why do you protect them? They don't care about you."

"They've saved me from the scrap heap and rebuilt me from the ground up. I'm their home, and they're my family." Baby's voice went cold as blizzard-chilled chrome. Her words were strong even though her voice quavered with weakness. "Nobody hurts my family if I have anything to say about it."

"But I've given you human form! I've given you the love of a god!"

"You only wanted me after you changed my chassis." He clearly didn't understand her unchanging heart, and Baby almost - _almost_ - felt sorry for him. "They love me because no matter what I look like, I'm still their Impala."

Well and truly angry now, Adonis sounded like a child throwing a tantrum because his game didn't make any sense now. "I gave you everything!" he screamed.

"But it's not enough."

From the way his face contorted with rage, that was obviously not what he wanted to hear. His free hand clamped around her throat, slammed her back against the wall, and lifted her high above his head. "You know, you're just not dying fast enough for my liking." There was a crazed light in his eyes as his grip tightened around her neck. "Let's remedy that, shall we?"

* * *

**You tell him, Baby!**

**Review everyone, please!**


	19. Baby Makes Her Choice

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_"You know, you're just not dying fast enough for my liking." There was a crazed light in his eyes as his grip tightened around her neck. "Let's remedy that, shall we?"_

* * *

"Son of a bitch!" Dean swore as Adonis lifted Baby up the wall one-handed. He tried to fight his restraints again, but with his cracked ribs he couldn't move without extreme pain and the risk of puncturing a lung. He could only watch helplessly as Adonis kept choking Baby to death. "Dammit!"

A low mutter suddenly reached his ears. Castiel's lips were moving at breakneck speed, blue eyes locked on the manacle securing Dean's right hand. He was speaking Enochian, and Dean knew that meant some serious angelic mojo was about to go down.

Baby continued to lash out at Adonis with her free hand, but she was too weak to fight him off. Black smoke was weakly puffing out of her mouth like Steamboat Mickey's tugboat, and the longer Dean watched, the weaker Baby's struggles became. "Hurry up Cas! She's losing!"

The dark-haired angel barked out three words that made the air crackle. The chain at Dean's wrist melted off as his gun skidded across the concrete as if thrown by a ghost. Dean snatched up the weapon as he flashed a thankful grin at the angel. Focusing through the pain, Dean aimed for the god's head and cocked the hammer back. "You leave her the hell alone, bastard!"

Luck favored his aim; the bullet went right into Adonis' temple. Blood sprayed from the wound as the god howled in pain. Sam and Castiel both gasped for air as the pressures on their chests disappeared. Dean couldn't help the cocky grin that spread across his face.

But Adonis' head swung around to give a deranged smile, and that's when Dean suddenly realized he'd walked right into a trap. The older Winchester heard a series of strange words, then all he heard were his own screams as it suddenly felt like a pack of hellhounds were tearing him apart.

* * *

Baby could barely hear anything over the roaring in her ears, but she heard the gunshot ring out and Dean's shout. She felt Adonis release her other wrist as a flurry of foreign words tumbled from his mouth. Wrenching her eyes open, she looked over just as Dean screamed in agony and the bloody symbols on his chest lit up like fireworks.

Letting her arms go limp, Baby let the boar's tusk she had taken from Sam slide down into her left hand. Dean's blade slipped out of her right sleeve into the other hand. She jammed the tusk into Adonis' groin, causing the god to scream in pain as he tried to remove the tusk one-handed. Grabbing the hand still clamped around her throat, Baby brought her blade up to lop off his arm at the elbow. She ripped the severed limb from her neck as she crouched on the ground, gasping for air.

"You bitch!" Adonis screamed as he stumbled backwards, his bleeding stump hanging useless beside him. "How dare you!" He lifted his remaining hand to cast a spell, but Baby gave him no time. She tackled Adonis like a linebacker, quickly straddled his waist and stabbed Dean's blade through his palm to pin his other arm down.

"That's for trying to kill me and my boys. Again." Leaving the blade sticking in the ground, she pulled out her second blood-slicked stake and pressed the point over his heart. "Now stop the spell."

"Can't be done," the god sneered.

"Wrong answer, Junkless." She reached back, grasped the embedded boar's tusk and gave a sharp tug. Adonis writhed and squealed like a pig, but Baby didn't let him budge an inch. "Try again."

Despite the agony in those harsh, inhuman eyes, the pagan god smirked with sadistic amusement. "That ring of symbols will tear out his soul no matter what you do to me."

"That right?" Baby asked. "Huh. Then I'll just kill you."

"If you kill me, your own transformation will be reversed."

"I don't care."

Adonis looked at her in shock. He clearly hadn't expected that. "What?"

"I said, I don't care." She lifted the stake to eye level. "I'd do whatever it takes to save them."

"For such a reason, you'd give up being human?"

"That's real love, Adonis. Being willing to give up everything to those you love safe from scum like you." The stake slammed home, and she twisted it hard to ensure that the boar's blood permeated the wound. Adonis' scream was coupled with a searing blast of golden light that blinded Baby. When her vision cleared, she was kneeling over a pile of crimson anemone petals.

"Baby!" Sam called out in panic.

The Impala noticed a million things as she raced over. Dean had stopped screaming, but his body was rigid as plywood and his teeth were gritted in pain. The markings on his chest were flaring with power, sparking the symbols written underneath their feet in spiraling lines of golden magic. Baby realized that once the entire array was activated, the ritual would rip Dean's living soul straight from his body. She knew what had to be done, and from the way Castiel gave her a shocked look, he'd reached the same conclusion.

"What?" Sam demanded, noticing the exchange. "What is it?"

The angel's hand trembled slightly as he reached into his trenchcoat to pull out Braxton's grimoire. "If we transfer the symbols, it won't take his soul as the sacrifice," he said, flipping pages to where the spell was located.

"Transfer? To what, another soul?"

"Yeah," Baby said. "Mine."

* * *

_**~Flashback Thirty Minutes Before Sam Woke Up~**_

_After Rose left the motel room, Baby looked at Castiel and said, "Okay Cas, no more interruptions. What exactly am I?"_

_Castiel beckoned her to the chair on the opposite side of their small table. He waited until she sat before speaking. "I believe that...you possess something that an object of your limited years should not. Not yet, in any case."_

_"Tell me straight."_

_Castiel nodded. "Very well. You have somehow come into possession of a soul."_

_The blunt revelation made Baby glad he had waited for her to sit. Her body suddenly felt like it weighed like nothing, and her heart was pounding so much faster than ever before. "A...a soul?" When he nodded, she choked out, "__But how?"_

_"For such a thing to be possible, you must have been close to some event that enabled this soul to become lodged within your chassis."_

_Guilt crept into her voice as Baby asked, "Is it...from a dead person? I've been around plenty of dead people." If it was, then t__he list of possibilities was endless; people had a habit of dying around her boys, and magic was commonplace on more than half of their hunts._

_"No." Blue eyes squinted at her torso in a way that, had she been human, Baby would have found incredibly uncomfortable. __"This purity..." Castiel looked up to meet her eyes, frowning in puzzlement. "An unborn soul. One untouched by the world beyond the womb."_

_"You're saying this soul is a baby's?" Now she felt _really _guilty, but the knowledge helped her place the possible time it happened. She scrambled for the journal and flipped through it. "One of John's first cases was in a hospital..." When she found it she cried out in triumph. "Ah-HA! Here, twenty-eight years ago. Demon was using dark magic to cause babies to be stillborn. Had a hankering for dead baby, apparently. Thirteen died before John exorcised the bastard."_

_Castiel nodded. "One of those souls must've followed John Winchester and attached itself to his vehicle. Its very nature allowed it to grow naturally within you to achieve its own consciousness. In a very real sense, you were born that night twenty-eight years ago."_

_Baby gaped for a few seconds before eloquently replying, "Son of a bitch."_

* * *

"You have a - " Sam's eyes widened in realization. "No. Baby, no!"

"We don't have time to argue. With Adonis dead, my transformation won't last another two minutes."

The taller Winchester shook his head vehemently. "There has to be another way."

Baby smiled softly. "It's the only way to save him, Sammy." She stretched up on her knees to kiss Sam on his bruised cheek. "You take care of your brother, you hear?" Sam clutched her tightly against his enormous frame, shuddering with suppressed tears as he nodded. Baby pulled away and looked down at Dean. "And you. Try not to shoulder everything on your own, okay? Let other people help you sometimes."

"Baby..." His breath was coming in ragged gasps as he fought to speak. Dean weakly reached out for her, and Baby cradled his hand in her bloody ones. "Please...Baby...don't do it..."

"You've saved everyone else. Now it's my turn to save you." Baby bent down and kissed his cheek as well. She pulled back slightly, then muttered, "Ah, screw it," against his skin and pressed her lips against his. This kiss was soft and poignant, holding all the love she felt for him. "One for the road," she whispered before stepping back to let Castiel approach.

The angel's hand was now wreathed in the same golden aura as the symbols on Dean's chest. "Be ready to get out of the way quickly," he ordered Sam. "Once the symbols are transferred, we will have seconds before the ritual activates."

He flattened his glowing palm against Dean's chest, and the Winchester threw back his head as he let out an anguished groan. The ring of symbols peeled off Dean's skin like stickers to hover around Castiel's hand. Sam quickly hooked his arms under his sibling's armpits and dragged Dean outside the magical circle, ignoring the older Winchester's weak protests and struggles.

Once the boys were clear, Baby stood up and stripped off her jacket and T-shirt, leaving her black bra on with Dean's amulet hanging between the valley of her breasts. "All right Cas, do it," she announced. "We don't have much time."

* * *

Castiel briefly hesitated, processing everything that could go wrong with this plan. The ritual called for a human's soul, and while Baby's soul was technically human, she was not truly human. Her soul had to be forcibly pulled out and then shoved back into her body, and even if the transformation worked, was no way to know how badly the process would damage her soul.

And yet here she stood, tall and proud, ready to face oblivion to save Dean. _She is far braver than many I have known_, Castiel thought as he pressed the symbols to her bare stomach and hurried out of the circle to join the Winchesters.

High above the warehouse, the moon reached its zenith just as the final symbols flared to life. The letters glowed beneath her feet like spotlights, throwing shadows across Baby's face similar to a flashlight beam under her chin. A roaring wind tore through the warehouse, and Baby was lifted into the air by an unseen force. Her head tilted back as her body went rigid, arms out and slightly stretched behind her and legs dangling. Bluish-white light shone from her eyes and mouth similar to how an angel's Grace flared when stabbed.

A small white orb rose from her open mouth, like a firefly rising among the swamp grass. It darted around her head as if unsure of where it was supposed to go, then shot back down her throat with a high-pitched trill. Light exploded from beneath her skin like a supernova, sending flares of cold fire through the warehouse in expanding rings.

For one brief, glorious moment, Baby's body shone like some sort of flaming beacon. Then the arcs retracted, her glowing skin winked out, and she dropped onto the scarred, blackened, broken concrete floor with an anticlimactic _th__ump._

* * *

**And now, faithful followers, the moment you've all been waiting for...happens next chapter. Stick around!**

**Review as well!**


	20. Sayonara, Baby!

**Previously on _Supernatural..._**

_For one brief, glorious moment, Baby's body shone like some sort of flaming beacon. Then the arcs retracted, her glowing skin winked out, and she dropped onto the scarred, blackened, broken concrete floor with an anticlimactic **thump**._

* * *

After using so much power protecting the Winchesters from the ritual's magical fallout, Castiel had barely enough energy to transport Sam and Dean back to the motel. He warded the small room from angels and demons alike, healed the worst of the brothers' injuries, and then went back to the warehouse to get Baby. He couldn't run the risk of disrupting whatever the ritual had done to her, so he physically carried her six miles back to the room. Once all his charges were in one room, Castiel settled in to regain his strength and wait.

After twelve hours with no change, he figured it was safe to step out for a quick supply run. He returned two hours later to find Baby sitting outside the motel room, freshly showered and wearing her tattered leather jacket over clean clothes. "Hey Cas," she said softly, her silver eyes watching the clouds above with childlike fascination.

"Hello Baby." Castiel sat beside her, setting down the six-pack, sandwiches, and container of pie he'd bought. "You haven't changed back," he quietly observed. "Did the spell - "

"No." She sounded...resigned. And tired. Very, very tired. "It's not holding."

"I see." He turned his gaze skyward as well. "How much longer do you have?"

"Maybe sunset, if I'm careful."

"Should I wake - "

"No!" Baby cupped her belly, wincing from her forceful objection. "No, don't wake them. It won't make this any easier for any of us." She forced a smile as she looked into his eyes. "Will you...will you promise to do something for me?"

"Of course," he replied. "What?"

"I'll tell you when I come back." She stood up shakily and slowly made her way down the sidewalk. Castiel could see how difficult even that movement was for the Impala. He watched her go until she turned the corner, then re-entered the motel room to check on the Winchesters.

She returned an hour before sunset. Her internal injuries were clearly worsening, judging from her labored breathing and the black smoke that now continuously poured from her mouth like a dragon's breath. Instead of entering the room, Baby lingered at the doorway and beckoned for Castiel to join her. He shuffled outside, and together they sat on the concrete step in front of the motel room. For several minutes they said nothing, not even looking at each other, watching the sun slowly descend towards the horizon and paint the western sky with beautiful shades of purple and red and orange.

It was halfway beneath the lip of the earth when Castiel finally broke the silence. "What did you want me to do?"

"You're doing it." She reached over and slipped her hand into his. "I - I just don't want to be alone at the end."

Unsure of how to respond, but fully aware of how much his presence was needed, Castiel said nothing. He merely nodded and squeezed her hand gently, turning his eyes to watch the sun set. When her head tilted to rest on his shoulder as the last rays of daylight vanished, still he said nothing. Even when her human body faded away and the Impala reappeared in the parking spot, Castiel said nothing. He merely stayed outside, with her, all night.

He had promised, after all.

* * *

Watching his brother tinker on the Impala from the door, Sam sighed. Dean had spent every waking minute since yesterday morning under Baby's hood with a wrench and screwdriver. He wouldn't even let Sam help with the repairs, only stopping to catch fifteen-minute naps and harass the local garages for the parts needed to rebuild Baby's engine. He'd said that after all she'd been through, Baby deserved the extra time for him to fix her up right.

But Sam knew it was because he was hoping...praying...that fixing Baby would let her change back.

"Hey." He was jolted out of his thoughts by Dean's curt tone. The older Winchester wiped his hands on a greasy rag. "She's up and running. I'm gonna catch a shower and then we can blow this one-horse town." The disappointment was clear in his eyes, like someone had shattered his favorite toy in front of him and he couldn't put it back together.

"Dean - " Sam began, but Dean pushed past and limped into the bathroom for a shower. Blowing out another sigh, Sam let his eyes return to Baby's patched frame. He could still remember waking up the previous morning, stepping out into the weak morning light and seeing Baby parked in her space, looking like she'd been driven through a firefight during a road rally. He'd looked back to see Dean leaning against the doorway for support, green eyes focused on the bullet-ridden car for a full minute, before he'd limped out and rested a hand on her hood. He'd mumbled something too softly to be heard, then turned around and gotten dressed and started the long process of fixing her.

"Can't you see he's hurting, Baby?" If there was any chance that her soul had survived being ripped out and stuffed back into her body, maybe she could hear him. "Do something," Sam whispered to the car. "Please. Anything." When nothing happened, he shook his head. _What was I thinking? We're never that lucky_.

He was packing their duffel bags twenty minutes later when a familiar flapping sound preceded the words, "She's still there."

Sam whirled around to see the trenchcoat-clad angel suddenly standing in the doorway, looking out at the Impala. "She's okay?" he confirmed.

"She's resting now, like a tree slumbering in winter." Castiel never took his eyes off the car. "Her soul has been badly damaged, but is intact."

"Then why hasn't she changed back?"

"The spell that allowed her to transform is no more. She could not even if she wanted to."

"But if there is a way..." Sam couldn't help the hope in his voice. After everything that had happened in his life, you'd think he'd have learned by now to not hope for the impossible. But impossible things happened with alarming frequency around the Winchesters, and he felt it was time for Fate to give them a break. "Could she?"

Castiel shrugged uncertainly. "I do not know. Perhaps one day, she could." He stepped outside, but when Sam rushed after him, Castiel was already gone. He shook his head and heaved an exasperated sigh. _Thanks a lot, Cas._

"Excuse me." A man suddenly walked up to the door and pulled out a clipboard. "Is there a Dean Winchester here?"

Immediately cautious, Sam's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Delivery from Picture Perfect Photos." The messenger held out a thick manila envelope. "A girl came by two days ago and placed an order for rush delivery. Said her boyfriend was leaving town today, and she wanted to make sure he got it before pulling out."

Thanking the messenger, Sam took the envelope and examined it. He had no idea why a girl would send pictures to Dean, since he'd made no effort to get to know anyone in Valence. The only girl they'd known at all was... "Was her name Paula?"

The man consulted his clipboard. "Yeah. Paula Campbell." He nodded a farewell and headed off, leaving Sam with his mouth agape in shock.

"Sam?" He looked up to see his brother standing in the bathroom threshold, clad in jeans with a damp towel hanging around his shoulders from the shower he'd just stepped out of. When his eyes landed on the envelope, he couldn't fake any interest when he asked, "What is it?"

"It's for you." Sam held out the envelope and added, "It's from Baby."

Sudden energy flared to life in Dean's eyes, and he quickly crossed the room and took the envelope from his brother. With a quick flick of his knife he sliced open the envelope and extracted a single glossy photo. Sam grabbed a folded piece of paper as it fluttered out and opened it carefully. Seeing it addressed to Dean, he handed the paper to his brother and said, "Take your time. I'll put the bags in the trunk and wait for you."

* * *

Dean heard Sam speaking, heard him grab their bags and leave the room, but he didn't really hear him. Tucking the photo behind the letter, he flipped open the single typed sheet and sat on the bed to read.

_To Dean - _

___By the time you get this, I'll be back to myself again. I'm sorry for not waking you up before I change back, but I knew it'd only hurt us both. Now you can fix me up good as new. Couldn't do that with my meatsuit, could ya?_

_What happened to me is not your fault. I'm a Winchester after all, and we've a long family history of heroically sacrificing ourselves for each other. I did what I did knowing that I was going to save you, so that you and Sammy could live to hunt another day._

_Remember, I'm not really gone. I'm always with you and Sammy, every mile we head down the highway or some back-country road, every hotel and motel you pull into, every moment we have the sky above our heads and the asphalt in front, behind and beneath us. __I'm right there with you two, just like I always have been. Just like I always will be._

___These past few days, I've had the chance to experience so many amazing things. _I've left you something to remember them as I will - as the best time of my life.

_I will always love you both._

_Baby_

A tear slipped from his eye and plopped onto the paper. Dean quickly swiped the liquid off before it smudged the ink, then folded the letter and carefully put it in his pocket. The back of the photograph had the words _For my Dean, remember to smile_ clearly written beside a date he recognized as the day before yesterday's. Flipping it over, he stared like a blind man suddenly granted sight.

The photographer had obviously caught Baby after she'd raked her hair back from her face, judging by how her hand was resting on her neck and her hair was slightly ruffled. The smile she had was a soft and secret thing, but with an edge that gave her expression a hint of spunk. Her eyes sparkled like polished silver and held such a look of love that made his heart clench.

Dean kept his eyes on the photo as he headed out to join Sam. His brother looked over as he slid behind the wheel. "You good?"

"Yeah." Dean slipped the photo into his sun visor and gripped the wheel tightly with both hands. Reading her letter had given Dean some sort of closure. And like Baby had pointed out, it wasn't as if she was really gone. She was still here with them, and she always would be. And now, he had something to remember her by. "Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." His smile reappeared as he put the key in the ignition. "How about you, Baby? Ready to go?" When Baby's engine turned over and rumbled to life, he chuckled in relief. "All right. Let's go home."

Smiling as well, Sam switched the radio on to let music filter through the speakers.

___Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'  
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow  
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'_  
Whooa, my my my my my...for tomorrow

* * *

**And...ROLL CREDITS!**

**Thank you all for sticking around! I'm thinking of writing a sequal to this, but I'm not entirely sure yet. If you want to input ideas, send a PM or review!**

**But review anyway! I'd love to know what you thought of this!**


	21. Epilogue

Hiding in the shadows, I watch the Winchesters pull out of the dingy motel parking lot. How I wish I could destroy them now, but standing orders are not to touch them. Not until a way is found that they can be taken alive without undue losses. Follow and report, that is my mission...

Wait. Is that...no, it can't be. Surely not.

It is. A soul resides within the metal frame of their car, and a human one at that. The aura is unmistakable.

But it is damaged. Badly damaged, judging from its threadbare appearance, like an old and ratty blanket full of holes. The slain deity's ritual has done quite a number on it. It will take time to recover.

How interesting. I wonder...Perhaps I can use this to my advantage. A smile slowly stretches across my face as my plan begins to come together. It would take time, of course, but all great endeavors need time to properly cultivate. My master will be pleased to learn that, in due time, I can hand him the Winchesters on a steel plate.

Perhaps I can even have a little fun at their expense.

* * *

**Just in case anyone was thinking I was done...**

**An epilogue/teaser trailer idea for a possible continuation.**

**Review and let me know what you think!**


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